Chapter 1
Chapter 1
A young colt stood alone, snow drifting down from the dark sky. He was crying, tears running down his face and splashing on his hooves and mixing with the blood in the snow. Even as he heard the sound of others coming to his aid, he did not look up. He’d see them again, their glazed eyes fixed upon the sky.
He blamed himself. He was not sure why, but he was certain that this had been his fault. He had pestered them into taking the shortcut. He was too busy enjoying himself to notice just what lay in wait. Then everything had happened at once, and he was alone, crying in the snow. His tried to force himself to stay there, to let snow and exposure kill him so he would not have to look up, but somepony came up and gently pushed him away. He tried to resist, but he was only a young colt; what could he do to resist?
As he was led away from the scene, he caught glimpse of two ponies, a stallion and a mare, lying dead in the snow.
“Master Blueblood?... Master Blueblood?” Blueblood blinked his eyes and looked up. The mid afternoon sun was beaming straight in his face, making it hard for him to see. With a groan he pushed himself up on his hooves, looking around his room and spotting the only other occupant, an elderly Earth Pony stallion who was waiting at the foot of his bed.
“Something wrong, Pennyworth?” Blueblood asked.
“The board of directors called; they wanted to remind you about the meeting in...” Pennyworth checked his watch “Three hours, give or take a few minutes.”
“Call them and tell them I can’t make it. Use whatever excuse you didn’t use last time.” Blueblood flopped over on his stomach and tried to go back to sleep, but Pennyworth was not about to let up so quickly.
“Well, I’ve already feigned illness, so unless you die or are called away by Princess Celestia in the next five minutes I doubt they’ll take no for an answer.” Blueblood sighed again and forced himself out of bed, accepting a robe that Pennyworth passed to him.
“Remind me to speak with her about having my title of ‘Prince’ mean something again.”
“I will make sure to provide refreshments for your eventual argument.” Blueblood knew that Pennyworth was exaggerating; he got along very well with his adoptive great aunt, although he did disagree with the notion that the title of “Prince” was mostly ceremonial. His father had been alright with the arrangement, but there still seemed like more he could accomplish with just a bit more power.
... Also remember to avoid dealing with Silver Industries for a few months, to avoid power tripping. Blueblood thought idly.
“Guess I’ll just have to face the board again. Call them and tell them I might be a little late.”
“I suppose that is better than dying. The shower is ready for your use.” and with that, Pennyworth wandered off to complete his other duties. Blueblood continued on into the bathroom shedding his robe and stepping into the shower.
It was now that he realized that he was covered in sweat. It was not an uncommon occurrence whenever his mind decided to drift into the past, but it still caught him off guard. He had talked with Pennyworth a few times about it, hoping that the older stallion could impart some wisdom, but even with his help he never seemed to get anywhere.
My own fault... no surprise there. Setting his self-loathing aside, he turned on the shower and allowed warm water to erase what evidence remained of his dreams. Pennyworth would probably confront him about it later (he always seemed adept at figuring things out), but for now Blueblood took the moment to allow his mind to clear... so he could figure out just what to say to make the board happy and get him out of there. He silently prayed for them to bring up something important, something he could really get invested in, but lately they seemed too interested in talking about such things as weapons technology and meaningless acquisitions... and working closer with Silver Industries.
Once he was sure he was clean enough, he stepped out of the shower and dried himself off, trying to make himself as presentable as possible. That task complete, he headed towards the main dining room, spotting Pennyworth standing next to a plate of various food stuffs. He nodded his thanks to the older pony before sitting down.
“Something on your mind, sir?” Pennyworth asked. Well, that was quick.
“No, nothing really.” Blueblood said.
“Master Blueblood, I’ve been in your service since you were a foal; I know when you’re hiding something from me.”
“... I had another one of those dreams, Pennyworth,” Blueblood said after a long pause, suddenly uninterested in his breakfast. “You know, where my parents die?”
“I know.” Pennyworth said, nodding solemnly. The two had talked some years ago, and Blueblood had learned he was not the only one who had dreams of that night. “I have offered as much advice as I can on the matter-”
“I know you have,” Blueblood looked up at Pennyworth “And I thank you for that. But it seems like every time I try and get over it, it just keeps coming back.”
“It never will go away completely, Master Blueblood. I have lost quite a few ponies over the course of my life, and I’ve found it’s best not to dwell upon their passing, else you begin to forget all the good things about them.” Blueblood nodded, but he did not feel convinced that that would be an easy thing to do. The image of his parents dying had been burned into his memory for quite some time, and with each passing day that was all he could remember about them.
“I’ll think of something.” he said finally, pushing his plate away and standing to leave. “Fancy Pants has that dinner party tonight, so I probably won’t be back until later.”
“I’ll keep something warmed just in case you’re still hungry.”
“Thank you, Pennyworth.” As Pennyworth cleared the table, Blueblood gathered up the last of his things and stepped outside. The positioning of the Manor was such that Blueblood could get a good view of Trottingham proper, spying groups of ponies going about their business. He knew that under the veneer of peace and calm lay a very broken system, but these ponies either did not realize the full extent of the problem, or just did not care.
With a sigh, and after trying his best to put his memories in check, Blueblood set out for Trottingham’s business district.
.................
He had only been here for less than two months, and already Braeburn Apple was beginning to grow tired of Trottingham. Whatever sense of optimism he had brought with him when he had first signed on to Trottingham’s police force had faded away, and it seemed that the only time he had been happy was whenever he had to put on a facade for visiting relatives. Still, he pressed on, just in the hope that something would change.
Small hope, He thought.
Currently, he and another officer were escorting a prisoner to Arkham Asylum. Said prisoner was supposed to spend ten years in the county jail, but he had managed to plead insanity and secure psychiatric evaluation instead. Braeburn had protested, citing how most of said “psychic evaluations” ended with the prisoner receiving a clean bill of health and being released in a few months, but he was ignored. Again. He looked back towards the cart they were transporting the prisoner in, guessing that he was probably enjoying himself immensely.
“Ey, rookie.” the other officer said, catching Braeburn’s attention. “Eyes front; we’re almost here.”
“Since when have you ever been one for procedure?” Braeburn asked, looking over at his companion.
“Well, there’s all those weirdos here; gotta show them that we’re the ones in charge.” If we were anywhere else in Equestria I would have agreed with you. Braeburn did not vocalize his response, but did turn his focus towards the approaching asylum.
Arkham was a holdover from the earlier days of Trottingham. Braeburn was not really sure who built it, and wondered why it had not been condemned long ago, but there it stood, shrouded by several groves of thick, gnarled trees. Just seeing the building made Braeburn uneasy; it reminded him of the old house his grandmother had lived in before she died, complete with dark windows and tarnished siding. Braeburn pushed his unease aside and pressed on, his mind focusing on the task at hoof.
The two officers stopped just outside the entrance to Arkham, Braeburn watching the door while his companion went around to get the prisoner. Said prisoner, a middle aged Pegasus with a small chunk out of his left ear, seemed very pleased with himself as he was lead into the building, Braeburn following close behind. The ponies stepped quickly inside, and it dawned on Braeburn that it was fairly quiet. Unnaturally so.
“Hey!” his companion called. “Anypony back there?” there was a pause before a security pony stepped out, a bit shaken by the arrival of the officers and their prisoner.
“Oh, hello there.” the security pony said. “Is this the prisoner transfer?”
“Yes,” Braeburn said from the back. “Diamond Hoof, known associate of the Falcon, sentenced to a year here along with psychiatric evaluation.”
“Right, of course.” the security pony shifted around a little. “Should take us a few minutes to get everything all set up.”
“I expected that you’d have thing prepared already.” Braeburn raised an eyebrow. “Is something wrong?”
“Uh... no, of course not. You see, we’re moving one of the patients to a new room today, and... well, we needed to make sure that everything worked out.”
“All this for one guy?” the other police officer asked. “That’s ridiculous. I want to speak to whoever’s in charge here. Rookie, stay here with the prisoner.” Braeburn opened his mouth to protest, but by that time the other ponies were gone. The prisoner seemed to be paying him no mind, and Braeburn was satisfied to leave it at that.
Of course, this was Trottingham; things that satisfied Braeburn rarely lasted very long.
“So,” Diamond Hoof said after a pause. “Must be a pretty big guy they’re moving around if they’re all so freaked out about it.” Braeburn said nothing. “Y’know, if my boss was here he’d probably be the one complaining; he’s not one for delays... bet you’ve had to deal with things like that before, haven’t you?” Braeburn continued to hold his silence.
“Hey, Buddy. I’m sure you’re probably not too hot on this set up. Must be a pain dragging crazies out here all the time.” Diamond Hoof smirked. “Maybe I could help you... look, I know ponies; I could get you a nice set up. Wouldn’t have to deal with ponies out here. Just a little extra on the side, y’know. Could get yourself a nice house... maybe a girl.” Braeburn blinked, but continued to stay silent. This caused Diamond Hoof to frown. “Okay, a guy? I’m not prejudice or anything.” still nothing, although Braeburn could hear the sound of hoof steps coming towards them. “C’mon, you’ve got to give me something to work with here.”
“Oh, I will.” as his colleague and two orderlies entered the room, Braeburn stood up a little.
“Okay, we’ve got that all settled.” the two orderlies moved to escort the prisoner into the asylum. Diamond Hoof glared at Braeburn as he was lead away, but Braeburn said nothing. Once the prisoner had been lead away, the head orderly turned to Braeburn.
“I’m sorry for the delay, sir.” the orderly said. “We’ll make sure to take good care of Mr. Diamond Hoof.”
“Oh, I’m sure you will.” Braeburn reached around and produced a few forms, paperwork needed to make Diamond Hoof’s stay official. He briefly considered saying something, that there was a typo to make the prisoner's stay longer, but deep down Braeburn knew he could not do that. He was an Apple, and even stretching the truth in the name of justice did not feel right to him. With a small sigh he passed the forms to the orderly and watched as they took Diamond Hoof away, the criminal giving Braeburn a thin smile as he left.
One of these days it'll be worth it, Braeburn thought as he turned to leave. One of these days
...............
Blueblood was so close. A small bead of sweat had formed on his forehead, but he ignored it. All of his concentration and skill were needed, and one minor slip up could result in disaster.
“Mr. Mane?” one of the board members asked, causing Blueblood to look up.
“I thought I told you to call me Blueblood.” he replied, turning his attention back to the task at hoof.
“Mr Mane, we are trying to hold a meeting here. If you would please set aside your toy and focus for a minute-”
“I am focusing.” Blueblood chewed his lip before spinning a section of the cube around, finally matching up all sides in their proper colors. “There, finished. See, was it so hard for you guys to wait?”
“If only your father could see this; I am certain he would not approve.” the board member sighed before continuing. “We were trying to discuss the offer made by Silver Industries-”
“And I gave you my answer: no.” Blueblood set the cube aside and looked at the board members. “I would say that I respect Silversmith as a pony, except I don’t; he’s too ruthless and a bad influence on this company, and I thought we already had military contracts. Why would we want to share our work with somepony else?”
“But sir, the manufacturing facilities-” another board member said before Blueblood cut him off.
“Are still in his name, or did you not read the fine print?” there was a pause, all the board members looking to Blueblood. “Yeah, I pay attention to little details like that. Problem?”
“Even if they are in Silversmith’s name,” the first board member said. “We still need to take this deal. Can you imagine just what we’d be able to achieve with more manufacturing facilities? We could expand even further, open up new markets-”
“Then why don’t we build some of our own factories, get more ponies working?” Blueblood asked.
“I’d support that plan...” a junior board member said. “But it might take some time to set up.”
“Eh, we can work with that. We’ll just have to increase output at our factories to catch up with demands.”
“Mr. Mane, you realize that-”
“I’ll tell you what I realize.” Blueblood leaned forward. “Silversmith wants all of us out of business, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get there. We’re not as bad off as you think, which leads me to believe that you might be in on his deal so you might get a little bit of the profits. Unless I deem it necessary, I will not do business with Silver Industries. That’s all I want to hear on the topic.”
“But Mr. Mane-”
“That. Is. All.” Blueblood checked his watch. “Now, if you’d excuse me, I have a dinner party with Fancy Pants in about an hour, so unless you have anything relevant to talk about that has nothing to do with Silver Industries then I suggest that we close this meeting.” the board members looked to each other, but said nothing. “Good. Oh, and I want you to look into some new land for purchase, so we can build some of our own facilities.” With that Blueblood turned and left, trusting that the board was at least competent enough to clean up after themselves.
The Mane Enterprises building was closing down for the night, but it was still a flurry of activity. Numerous ponies went to and fro, attending to jobs that Blueblood could not remember off the top of his head. Most of the ponies gave him a greeting as he walked by, and had he not been in such a hurry to get out he would have returned the favor. Despite the building’s size, it was not incredibly difficult for him to leave, as the crowds tended to part for him without much fuss.
As he stepped out onto Trottingham’s street, things changed. Despite his attire, he was still one pony among thousands, all hurrying off to whatever business awaited them. Here, there were no greetings, no parting of crowds. He even drew a few glares from some of the more downtrodden ponies. They probably don’t realize how I’ve been helping them. He sighed and moved to the curb, hailing a taxi to take him downtown.
It was not something he enjoyed, being forced to go from place to place and kowtow to different nobles and rich ponies, but it kept his mind distracted. And Blueblood needed distractions more than ever.
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And so the dark knight of trottingham will rise. A stallion we met through the eyes of supermare in the future. But a man who would be found under a shade of mystery as he died but a few months before as general zod. A man with great tech capacities and smarts, but with some paranoia and reserve. A stallion who would be involved in an accident that would end up making Clayface. A stallion who will disappear for several years, allowing Zod to take his place and probably be the jerk who rarity so despises.
This is the tale of batpony. And it begins with a savvy business pony who wants to be distracted from the death of his parents and find purpose in helping the city even as an invisible benefactor. Let the rising dark knight come forth.
Hm... You chose Blueblood, an acceptable pony for the role. Fancy Pants could have also taken that role, since there will be some drama in it with Fleur, but, if we are taking this with the Catwoman romance, I might just see where this Dark Knight goes.
When will we see some update to the other DC universe ponies? I know there was a Crossover in this one. But when do we see Shining Armor half failing but be the hero gig?
3861695 I'm working on them; schoolwork's just being a bit troublesome right now
Okay... as I recall, Zod spent five years masquerading as Blueblood after killing him. I hope you have some plan in place to reconcile that with casting Blueblood as Batstallion in this installment. I look forward to more of your work, just wanting to know if you have some plan for that or if you're planning a major retcon of who Zod posed as in Mare of Steel.
3861723 I have a plan; no major retcons are forthcoming
3861716 understandable
I will absolutely be reading this soon. Loved Mare of Steel. You have a awesome writing style.
3861743 What, did Zod kill someone already masquerading as Prince BB? Might make sense for it to have been an earlier mission to gather info on the royal family for the Wedding incident if you follow my meaning.
3862368 I believe I do
...
....
.....
...someone want to explain to me why the hell I'm not following you yet?
Never mind Remedied.
That being said, I'm enjoying the way this is starting, if for no other reason, then for the fact that this Blueblood is miles away from the pompous ass we saw in The Best Night Ever. And I love it when stories do that.
Does that make Rarity the jewel obsessed cat woman? Because that would mean Pinkie Pie totally called the crazy cat lady thing.
3863049 Ah but if you read Mare of Steel you will see that there was a reason for pompous ass Blueblood. I wont spoil it for you so instead I command you to READ!
3864184
I've read Mare of Steel, so I already know about that.
EDIT: Besides, it's not like the comments here haven't already spoiled that little tidbit anyway.
I'd just like to point out something on Bluebloods costume that I think would be cool. Instead of having his mouth and chin showing, wouldn't it be cooler to close up the entire mask by even covering up the horn? Since a pony's skin color can give them away, I think a full costume to cover up every speck of skin would be plausible. It's just an idea.
*Sees notification*
...
Stop it, boner.
You sir deserve this.
Also:
3864786 Something like that has already happened. Ever heard of Batman Nightfall or Azrael? If not I highly recommend reading the Nightfall story and studying up on Azrael.
Do you know why this story will be good? Because he's Batman. That's why.
3863728
I kept trying to use Blueblood's voice for this. It didn't work; Kevin Costner kept bashing his way back into my brain. Nice to see Braeburn as Gordon; he's a bit more rebellious than I'm used to him being, but after a little while in this town I'd expect this sort of behavior. Is Diamond Hoof an OC? Blueblood is a little less fanatic than Bruce usually is, but that shouldn't be a problem. I'm always glad to see a little Luthor vs Wayne rivalry, and I have to say that, as a combatant, this is probably Bruce's financial specialty: fighting off hostile takeovers. And finally, I hope that the prequel format won't ruin any tension. Overall, great start! Can't wait to see more!
3923616 You mean Kevin Conroy, right? I don't think Costner's ever been Batman. As for his voice... who's to say that Zod flubbed his notes and chose a different voice for Blueblood?
Diamond Hoof is an OC; I needed a generic mob lieutenant name and that one seemed to fit the bill
And I'm glad you like the story. I'm focusing on finishing Princess of Themyscira first, but I will get to this as soon as I'm done
3923645 Wait, I said....
....I am so embarrassed.
3923681 Simple mistake, nothing more.
But Conroy is best Batman, and that's what I'm trying to go for
3923716 Amen, Brother! Preach!
After watching man of steel about fifty times and readin mare of steel a couple of times ( yes i loved it) i just cant read any of bluebloods lines without slightly steering off to michael shannons voice :p
A nice start. It really is, I hope this works out well, as a good blueblood is just so rare. The hopes are raised, please dont dash them horribly?
And so we see the origins of the Dark Knight. I would say when we get to see The Joker, but I know that any villain could be put in this story, so I'm not jumping to conclusions just yet.
Keep going, This look great so far. Plus, you might what to explain the two Bluebloods in this and Mare of Steel at some point.
Nice start to the story. I cannot wait to see how the Batman is formed. Plus, I wonder if we'll get any sidekicks in this story.
Please do keep up the good work upon such a great story.
IS IT ME OR WOULD BATMAN FIT IN RIGHT FINE IN SIN CITY?
Dark Knight Rising.