My Little Arkham

by ADHD365

Survival

As the doors opened, Twilight braced herself for whatever lay beyond. She still wasn’t sure of what was going on. She didn't remember much right before she woke up in here. She didn't want to stop and try to either. She was smacked to the ground last time she tried and got a bloody nose. She was then forcefully corralled into a long line of intimidating and scary-looking inmates. She almost chuckled at the irony.

The second that the machine doors opened, the temperature inside dropped to below freezing. The tears they previously shed froze to their faces. Strange was right. Rainbow knew she wouldn't be able fly for more than a few meters before she froze up. They hugged each other tight for warmth, and looked towards the outside.

They saw the chain-link gauntlet, the floodlights, the buildings in front of them, and the dark aura it all emitted. They had to take it all in fast, because they knew they could face bigger problems any second.

"Remember everypony, run for the nearest hidin' place." Applejack reminded them.

"Right..." they replied.

They looked towards the open gate. On the ground in front of them lay a few unconscious inmates. They were all wearing the same orange jumpsuits, except for one. Beyond the fences on either side of the gauntlet, a few more inmates pressed up on the fence and were shouting random angry stuff at them.

"What the hell is up with the ponies?!"

“You find the weirdest freaks in Gotham, I tell ya…”

"You all look stupid!"

"I freakin' hate pink!"

"You bitches ain't gonna last a minute in here!"

The gate opened onto what looked like a cement plaza. A good 100 feet past the gate was an alleyway under an archway. The plaza had a few inmates walking around it, however. Running to the alleyway behind them wasn't going to be easy.

"If running doesn't work, we may have to fight." said Twilight.

"Ah think ya might be right, Twi." replied Applejack. "We only fight if they try to fight us. That'll be our backup plan.”

"Yeah! They all may look mean and scary, but I bet we can take 'em! Seeing their faces when we beat 'em will be so cool!" said Pinkie.

The rest of them smiled at Pinkie's enthusiasm. They all secretly envied her because of it.

They all released each other and readied themselves to run. With their huddle ended, they all felt the freezing air on their faces. It stung like crazy. Rainbow looked forward to the alleyway beyond. Running with air this cold stinging their faces wasn't going to be enjoyable. She knew they were going to have to fight. She was glad Fluttershy and Rarity weren't with them. They would've been easy kills for these guys.

Immediately, Rainbow Dash's fury took over her. Pumped by adrenaline and anger upon remembering her two missing friends, She readied herself.

"One...."

They got ready to make a break for the alley.

"Two...."

They focused all their attention on getting their friends, no matter what.
"THREE!"

---

Fluttershy woke up dazed for the second time in the past fifteen minutes. She remembered being outside in the freezing cold. She remembered the man that had taken the attacking inmates down in a matter of seconds. She remembered seeing Rarity try to fight off an inmate before being mercilessly beat by him. She remembered kicking him in the head as hard as she could before she tried to help Rarity. It was too hard though. The fear and the atmosphere was too much to take in and she collapsed. Afterwards she was struck with the butt of one of the short man's henchman's guns, and blacked out.

She noticed that two henchmen were dragging her. She was in what looked like an old exhibit. There were old signs and display cabinets with broken glass doors to either side of the hallway she was in. Everything was extremely dirty and dusty.

As they rounded the corner, she groaned a bit, and one of the henchmen noticed.

"Hey, she's up. Let the boss know."

The henchman on the left turned and got right into her face. She hung her head down and started to cry again.

"Oh come on!" he groaned, annoyed. "Stop with the damn waterworks already!"

She still cried softly, but she looked back up at him. "W-w-what do you want with me?"

The one on the right spoke. "It's not what we want, it's what the boss wants. We don't know why a bunch of ponies are comin’ around here all of the sudden, all we know is the Penguin wants one."

“That’s you, in case you haven’t figured it out.” The other one added.

They set her down on the ground and released her. The left one spoke again. "You can rest here for two minutes, then we get walkin' again."

She lay down on the ground. Shivering, she looked up at the two henchmen. "O-o-ok..." she whispered.

Both of their expressions immediately melted from one of annoyance to one of shame.

The right henchman turned slightly and bit his lip before reminding the other about contacting the boss.

"Uh.... yeah.... right. Ahem."

He turned around and started talking on the radio.

"Uh.... Mr. Cobblepot, the pegasus is awake. What... uh... What do ya need us to do with her now?"

There was a brief pause before they heard a response.

"Put her with the snowman, and get yer arses over here now! Wayne got away! He broke my bloody hand, and took out everyone I brought with me!"

"You got it, Mr. Cobblepot!"

He returned to Fluttershy and the other henchman and began to help her up.

"Come on, get up. We gotta get all the way to Freeze's room." he said with urgency.

"F-f-freeze?" She asked as they started walking quickly down the hall.

"Yeah, Mister Freeze… The coldest son-of-a-bitch you'll ever meet."

The henchmen chuckled a bit at the joke, but Fluttershy didn't get it, of course.

They walked down the hallway some more and turned left. There, all she saw was a motor powered door that had been shut. One of the henchmen pushed a few buttons and the door opened.

"Ok get in. We'll be back in a bit, but don't try anything funny, got it?"

"Y-yes," she sniffed, and she walked inside.
The henchman shut the door behind her and she watched them disappear. Once the door shut all the way, she turned around. The new room she was in was very messy with papers, signs, and old cabinets all cluttered around.

A sudden voice in the darkness made her yelp.

"Who or what are you?"

She crouched on the ground and hid her face behind her hooves.

"I asked you a question. Who are you?" it said again.

Shaking violently, she slowly peeked out from behind her hooves and squeaked out, "I-I-I'm Fluttershy. I-I-I’m a p-p-pegasus."

”A Pegasus? Where on earth did Strange find a Pegasus?” he said as she slowly got to her hooves again.
"T-t-the two men said your name is Mr. Freeze?"

He was tall, bald, and pale blue. His ears had been reduced to little stubs on the side of his head. His eyes were dark, a grayish blue mixture. He was wobbling like he was having a hard time standing. He looked like he had an absolutely terrible accident.

"Yes." he said, finding his balance. “A fitting name for someone like me.”

She took a tentative step toward him, "Oh, um, sir? Are you all right? You don't look like you're feeling very well."

He sat down on the ground, and clenched his fists in anger. "No. Cobblepot took my suit. I need it. I can't complete anything without it. I can't save her without it. She'll die without me."

Fluttershy replied. "Um, who will?"

"Nora. My beautiful, sweet Nora. She's everything. Nothing else matters except her." he said in despair.

Fluttershy felt so sad for him. She didn’t know what was wrong, but she knew it must have been dreadful.

"Oh my. I'm so sorry for what you must be going through. You don't seem as bad as those guards say you are."

Freeze looked back to her, bewildered. "I can't see how Strange could ever find it in himself to capture a creature as gentle and kind as yourself."

The remark made Fluttershy feel slightly more comfortable. "Well, um, I can't remember how I got here. Everything is happening all at once. The only thing that I can remember is some sort of fog, and everypony close was screaming something, and that's it." she said, "Mr. Strange, um, said he had the Elements of Harmony with him, and that he would use them for this thing called 'protocol ten'. I don't know what we did to upset him, but I’m truly sorry for whatever it is."

Freeze looked completely fascinated by her totally innocent personality. It was like she was completely incapable of committing or thinking a single cruel. "Strange is a man who will do whatever he pleases. He has taken my beautiful wife, and your, Elements, are they? He shows no compassion to anything at all."

They sat and talked more about the elements, Nora, their worries, and of what might come for a bit longer before Fluttershy felt comfortable enough to rest. She felt like she trusted Freeze enough to feel somewhat safe around him. She lay down and tried to remember how she got here.

---

The four mares took off toward the plaza at full speed. The icy air stung with every step they took, but they continued as fast as they could. Their eyes were just slits open just enough to see the alley behind the group of inmates. An inmate noticed them as they quickly approached. They were almost there before they heard him get the others’ attention. Tears streaming down their faces, they practically pounced a few of the inmates in their way.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash took one down immediately. Together, they leapt toward him and he went down. As Twilight ran to the group, Pinkie Pie quickly rounded, crouched, and looked at Twilight. At first, Twilight thought she was scared, but Pinkie’s expression told her she wanted to boost Twilight into the air. Pinkie got ready as Twilight ran toward her.

The next second, Twilight was flying through the air. “Boing! Ha ha ha!!” Pinkie giggled.

The cold air stung Twilight as she flew through the air, but it was worth it when she landed smack on a surprised inmate. She landed right on top of him and immediately raised her back hooves and bucked a second one hard. This one flew backwards and smacked into Pinkie Pie. This caused him to get the wind knocked out of him and he wheezed on the ground next to her.

By this time, about seven inmates joined the scuffle. That’s when they started to feel nervous. They fought back the assaults for a while before they started to feel exhausted. It felt like it lasted for hours when in reality it had only been about two-and-a-half minutes.

“The alley, everypony!” yelled Twilight.

After they got a few feet between them and the rest of the inmates, they took off towards the alley. They were much faster than the inmates and they knew it. They ran in the alley and turned a corner. They looked for a place to hide, but all that stood in front of them was a wire fence. It was too high for them to jump over by themselves, and they couldn’t find anything to get them over.

“Shoot! It’s too high! Now what?” muffled Applejack. She was still wearing the muzzle because of her previous assault on the guard.

They desperately tried to think of a plan and fast. The rest of the inmates were just around the corner and were closing in fast.

Twilight spoke up. “Rainbow! Can you fly us over?”

Rainbow hesitated. She had to help Rarity and Fluttershy, and this was the only way to do it, but like Strange said, the temperature was way too cold for her to fly. However, she had to endure it for a little while; otherwise the pursuing inmates would definitely kill them.

“I’ll only be able to fly straight up a few feet, but that’s all. Its way too cold to fly like I usually do.” She replied.

“That’s all we need!” said Twilight.

She knelt at the base of the fence. “Hop on!” She said. Pinkie got on her back first, and Rainbow flew up. Pinkie vaulted the fence and landed on the other side. Rainbow did the same with Twilight and Applejack, before she herself got over the fence. They ran down the dark street to the right into the darkness. The other inmates had just got to the fence when they disappeared.

“Yeah! You better run!”

“Run away, little ponies! Run, run, run! We’ll catch up with ya eventually!”

As they ran down the street, they saw a lot more buildings. They were all big, dark and they all had gothic-style-architecture. Arkham City seemed to stretch for miles. They slowed their pace, and tried to catch their breath, gawking at the environment around them while staying in the shadows as much as possible.

“This place is enormous!” said Twilight.

“Ah wonder how big it all is. Ah think it may even be bigger than Canterlot!” said Applejack.

“It can’t be any bigger. There’s no way it could be bigger!” said Rainbow.

“Maybe there’s a place to rest or get help or something.” Said Twilight.
“Hey! Look at that place!” Said Pinkie.

She was pointing at a very tall building with a steeple. It looked like an old church. Like the rest of Arkham City, it was also dark, and scary. There were banners flapping on the spire that read “Medical Center”. Seeing this brought relief to the exhausted mares.

They quickly trotted to the open gates and approached the doorway. They slowly opened the doors and walked inside.

“Uh…Hello…Anyone here?” said Twilight.

They found another doorway in front of them that was slightly opened. Twilight pressed her hoof up to it and it creaked open.

Inside the church, they saw a large hall that led straight to a large organ at the end of the room. Everything was dusty, and falling apart inside. There were lit candles all over that inside of the church; it made it feel much warmer inside. As they walked through the doorway, a bald man stepped in front of them. He looked like a police officer.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you-“ he paused. He was apparently not expecting to four cute little ponies walk through the doorway. “What the hell are you? What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Please, sir, we desperately need help!” Twilight pled. We have been here for about fifteen minutes and we have already had a few brawls with murderers, and we lost our two friends! Can we please stay here?”

The man looked dumbfounded. “Uh…. Just a sec. Hey Cash! You gotta see this!”

Just then, another man came jogging towards them from down the hall. “Yeah North? What’s up?” Then he saw the four ponies. “What the-?”

All four of them looked at him with the saddest eyes anyone’s ever seen.

“Please…we need help…” Said Twilight.

Cash looked so confused. Then he shook his head, disappointed. “Man, just when I thought Strange couldn’t go any lower.” He glanced up at them again. “Come on in. This is the safest place in Arkham City.”

---

Rarity awoke in a tiny room. She opened her eyes, but couldn’t muster the energy to sit up. She was trying to convince herself to wake up for real, out of this twisted dream. Her throbbing pain reminded her that this was real. That inmate had pummeled her pretty hard.

After two minutes or so, she decided to sit up. She was lying down on a dirty orange sofa and her head was spinning. The room she was in was chilly, but not quite as cold as the outside temperature. She got to her hooves and took a few small steps toward the door to look outside.

“Hello?” she asked. “Can anyone hear me? Hello?” No one responded.

She was in a large circular room with many smaller rooms along the wall. It was all very well decorated and the hallways were lit with gothic-style light fixtures. It was hard to believe that this was a prison.

She walked to the balcony and looked. The roof was just one big circular glass dome. To the ground below, there was a large structure that reached a platform on her level in the center of the room. It looked like a giant iceberg. The platform it touched was to her right. She made her way to it, admiring the detail put into this place.

“Whoever designed this is an absolute genius! I know it’s the wrong thing to think about right now, but I cannot help myself! Everything here looks marvelous!” she thought to herself.

She walked around the circular balcony until she reached the elongated walkway. It too was very tastefully done. There were intricate railing designs on either side of the walkway, and foggy glass covered the walkway in an arch all toward the center. As she got closer, she heard a door open and slam shut.

A wave of fear immediately swept over her and she froze.

“What’s goin’ on with the boss?” a voice said.

“I dunno, man. Sounds like Wayne broke free and beat the hell outta him.” Said another.

“Whoa, you serious?”

“Yeah, he beat the hell outta the boss and everyone he took with him.”

“That’s crazy, man. I always figured Wayne as a wimp.”

Rarity gulped and silently made her way back to the room she woke up in. As fast and as silently as she could, she got to the room and sat on the couch, waiting. The voices continued as they approached.

“So what’s up with all the ponies around here?”

“I dunno man, its weird as hell.”

“Tell me about it. Jason said four more got put in here. Beat the hell out of about five or six before more showed up.”

“This ain’t a zoo! Why’s Strange putting animals in here?”

“Hell if I know! How many did we get?”

“We got this white one, and another yellow one. Mikey took her down with Freeze.”

Rarity felt worried. She didn’t know where Fluttershy was, and now her other friends were in here too. She knew they could handle themselves, but she was very worried about Fluttershy.

“Freeze? Ha! Oh man, I feel bad for her.”

“I know, man. He’s one mean son-of-a-bitch.”

Two inmates walked in front of the doorway. They both had masks, and urban camouflage on. They wore big coats that had a picture of a bird on either arm, and they both had guns.

“Well, well, looks who’s up?” said the one on the left.

Rarity backed up toward the wall. She looked at them both as they advanced.

“W-what’s going on? Why am I here? Please tell me. I’ll go without a fight and I’ll do whatever you want but please tell me what I’m doing here?” she implored.

“Dunno.” Said the one on the right. “All we know is that Penguin wants you for somethin’. He really took a liking to those diamond tats you got.”

Rarity stopped and looked at her flank. “M-my cutie marks? Why?”

The henchmen burst into laughter. “PFTHA HA HA HA! CUTIE MARKS?! HA HA HA HA!”

“THAT’S THE FUNNIEST DAMN THING I EVER HEARD!! HA HA HA HA!”

They were in tears when they stopped laughing. Rarity felt scared and ashamed now.

“Heheh... Look, pony. You should count yourself lucky you ain’t your friend.” Said the left.

“Yeah. She gets to spend time all alone with Freeze. Sucks for her.”

Rarity started to panic. “Why is she with someone so bad?! She’s extremely sensitive! She may die! Please go get her!”

The henchmen took another step forward. “Hey! Freeze ain’t gonna hurt her, he’s too weak without his suit. He won’t be able to hurt her even if he wanted to.”

Rarity stood there in silence. She didn’t know what to do, say or think.

The henchmen turned and walked to the door. “Well, you might as well get comfortable. It’s only a matter of time before the boss gets back, maybe a half-hour or so. And you ain’t going nowhere else until he does.”

Rarity stood for another minute after they left. Then, with tears streaking down her cheeks, she slowly trotted over to the orange couch and curled up in the fetal position. About a minute later, a henchman came back in and looked at her. She was rocking herself slowly, trying to find her happy place.

“D’awww! Isn’t dat cute? The widdle pony is sweeping!” he said, sarcasm extremely apparent in his voice.

He laughed as he came in and set something down on the small table. Rarity just curled up into a tighter ball and continued to shake as he left the room. He called back, “Enjoy your stay in the Iceberg Lounge!”

Comments

[Ocean Waves]

I was worried that their ability to defend themselves would be downplayed, but I'm glad to be proven wrong. The modified taunts you use really make this feel like Arkham.

[King of Kings]

Really good job with the way that you handled Mr. Freeze. He has been shown a lot of cruelty that he doesn't really deserve, seeing as how all he really wants to do is find a cure for his wife's incurable disease and save her life.

[sonicandmario826]

Man the ponies are taking there being humans pretty well and vice versa with the humans.

Pretty good so far though I do feel Twilight and Rarity could use their magic a bit more.

[Nightflight406]

Please tell me that later chapters will tell how they got here and how Dr Strange knows them and the Elements.