My Little Arkham

by ADHD365

Finale

Rainbow Dash flew up into the air as quickly as she could. She had just seen Batman grapple up to the rooftop not a second ago, but he was gone in less than a second. She looked around below to see if she could spot him. The ground didn’t get much light and Batman was wearing all black, making him nearly impossible to spot.

She flew toward the theatre and continued looking left and right for him. She had to try and help him save Talia from Joker. If this really was the final battle, then he would’ve pulled out every last one of his tricks for Batman. He was going to need all the help he could get.

Her earpiece clicked. “All air units report in. Cease attack and return to base immediately. Repeat, return to base immediately.”

She gave a small grin. They had done it. Protocol 10 was officially shut down and the TYGER forces were leaving for good. She looked up and saw the final helicopters flying away toward the GCPD building.

“Finally. Its all finished.” She breathed.

She turned her attention to the theatre a few streets away and slowly flew toward it. She continued to scan the ground below to try and spot Batman somewhere, but she still couldn’t see him.

She finally reached the airspace directly above the theatre. She looked down and saw Joker walking in circles around Talia. She was on her knees and had her arms behind her head. Joker was holding a gun and a microphone.

“Where are you, Batman?” Joker asked on the microphone. His voice echoed through the city streets.

Rainbow glanced around the area surrounding the theatre. On the roof were two snipers just keeping their laser sights on Joker and Talia. Two more laser sights came from either side of the street just keeping a constant watch. Rainbow turned back to the rest of the street. She counted seven more laser sights crisscrossing with one another all down the street.

“Woah.” Rainbow breathed. “Yeah, we’re gonna definitely need some help.”

Rainbow flew back over to the portal as quick as she could. She dove down and landed right in front of Twilight.

“Rainbow? Are you okay?” She asked.

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah I’m fine, but we’re going to need your help.”

Pinkie walked over beside Twilight. “Help with what?”

“I just took a look over at the theatre. There are tons of snipers all over the place guarding Joker and Talia from every direction.” Rainbow said.

Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other and nodded. “Okay, we’ll be right behind you.” Twilight said.

“What about the portal?” Pinkie asked, motioning toward the large white orb behind her.

“Don’t worry. I saw a protective spell in my book that should keep it safe from anything.” Twilight replied.

She turned around and faced the portal. Her horn began to glow and she focused. The portal slowly began to illuminate and disappear right before them.

“Where did it go?” Pinkie asked.

“Its still here.” Twilight said. “I used a spell from the book’s section on reality bending spells. I made the portal be just a second out of sync with the rest of the universe. The portal is now in its own little private section of time and space, just barely on the edge of reality. In actuality, it is still here but it isn’t here at the same moment. All we’re going to have to-”

Rainbow growled and pressed her hooves into her ears. “English, please!”

Twilight glanced back at Rainbow and Pinkie. Rainbow was on the ground with her eyes shut and her ears plugged, while Pinkie just stared at her in bewilderment.

“Uh… Its invisible.” Twilight concluded.

“Thank you!” Rainbow cried, getting to her hooves. “Was it so hard to say that?!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned around. “I guess not.”

Pinkie shook her head and smiled. “Okay! Lets get over there and help Batman!”

Rainbow and Twilight nodded. They all gathered up what they had around them and started running toward the theatre.

“Where’s Applejack?” Rainbow asked.

“She said she was worried about Rarity and Fluttershy going off by themselves so she went with them. Just to make sure they were okay.” Twilight replied.

Rainbow nodded and continued flying down the alleyway. Twilight and Pinkie followed right behind her.

After making a few lefts and rights, they came to the street. Rainbow cautiously looked around the buildings and rooftops for any snipers. She couldn’t see the snipers themselves, but she did see two laser sights crossing each other in the air as they scanned the area.

“Where are you, Batman? I’ve got your premiere ticket right here in my pocket! Its right here, next to the gaffer tape and the pliers.” Joker called.

Rainbow looked around another moment before turning around to Twilight and Pinkie. “Okay. I’m gonna clear this rooftop of this sniper, then bring you two up.”

“Okay.” Pinkie said. “Be careful, Dashie.”

Rainbow nodded and slowly flew up the side of the building toward the rooftop. She carefully peered up over the ledge to try and spot anyone. A short brick wall separated her from the sniper on the roof. She climbed up and crept around the backside of the wall. Turning the corner, she saw the sniper with his gun pointed at the building on the opposite side of the street.

Rainbow took a deep breath and snuck over to him. She reached up and wrapped her hooves around his mouth. He flailed his arms wildly and fell backwards, landing on Rainbow. She grunted, but her grip stayed firm. The snipers flailing continued for a moment before he died down and went limp.

She pushed him off of her and tried to catch her breath. After a moment, she got to her hooves and popped her neck. She flew into the air and back down to the ground by Twilight and Pinkie.

“Okay, this rooftop is clear.” Rainbow said.

She grabbed Pinkie and quickly carried her to the top of the building. Once they reached the top, Twilight had already teleported there and was scanning the area around them.

“There are three snipers on the other side of the street.” Twilight said. “I’m not sure about this side.”

“I think there are three more on this side too.” Rainbow replied, setting Pinkie down.

“How are we gonna get them all?” Pinkie asked.

“We wont. Batman should already be here. Maybe he’s already taken a few snipers out.” Rainbow said.

Just then, they saw some movement on the building opposite of them. They saw the snipers silhouette flailing his arms wildly against a dark figure. After a moment, he stopped and dropped to the ground. The dark figure ascended to the rooftop of the building to the right.

“There he is!” Pinkie said.

They saw him get to the rooftop and crouch over to the other side directly over the next sniper on the other rooftop. He stayed still for a moment before he dropped off the building and landed behind the sniper. He quickly incapacitated the sniper and vanished behind a wall.

“Come on! He’s making his way over there and we need to be right with him!” Rainbow said.

They ran along the rooftops toward the theatre. They jumped over alleyways and over any obstacles in their way. They approached a tall building with no way around it. Rainbow grabbed Pinkie, and flew up into the air over the building. She started to descend when Twilight appeared right below them. They landed beside her and continued toward the theatre.

“Why are you taking so long, Batman? Oh, hold on! I get it. You want me to off this annoying woman, right?” Joker laughed. “I mean she does go on a bit with all that ‘I am the great blah blah’ mystical mumbo-jumbo! HA HA HA! I’ll tell you what. I’ll do it, but you owe me. Okay?"

They turned a corner and stopped. Batman had already been here. One of the snipers was unconscious, lying face-down on the ground. They ignored him and continued toward the theatre. They caught a slight glimpse of Joker walking around Talia with his gun and microphone.

They slowed down as they turned another corner. Directly in front of them were the two snipers guarding Joker from on top of the theatre. Twilight stepped out and crept toward them as quietly as she could. She used her magic to levitate them both and knocked their heads together. They both cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

Pinkie and Rainbow walked over to Twilight. Pinkie noticed Joker look around suddenly and grab the back of Talia’s collar. He dragged her to her feet and led her toward the entrance of the theatre.

“I’ll see you soon!” He giggled. “Byeeeee!”

Below, two more snipers came out of either alleyway by the theatre and took aim at the environment. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some movement on the rooftop to her right. Batman was quickly approaching the edge above the sniper in the alleyway.

Pinkie turned heel and ran to the edge of the roof on her left. She looked down to the ground at the sniper. He was standing with his back to her at the mouth of a narrow alleyway. She crouched and leapt off the edge toward the lower wall. She jumped off the wall and onto the wall opposite her. She continued to jump down the wall closer and closer to the ground until she landed silently behind the sniper.

“Excuse me? Hello!” She called.

The sniper whipped around and looked at Pinkie. She was sitting on her haunches with her hoof in the air waving at the sniper and smiling.

“What the-?!” The sniper shouted.

He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Pinkie saw the other sniper set his laser sight on her. Instead of running, she looked to her watch.

“3… 2… 1.” She counted down.

Once she reached “1”, Batman reached around the sniper and choked him into unconsciousness. Pinkie giggled and looked back at the sniper next to her. He was just getting to his feet.

Pinkie felt her tail twitch. She glanced at it for a moment before looking back at the sniper. She stepped to the side just before Rainbow came crashing down into his head. Twilight fell and landed on the ground right where Pinkie was sitting just a second ago.

“Oww…” Twilight groaned.

“Hi Twilight! Hi Rainbow!” Pinkie greeted cheerfully.

Rainbow jumped off the sniper and over to Twilight to help her up. “Are you nuts, Pinkie?! What do you think you were doing?!”

“Well, I knew that Batman was going to get that sniper over there,” She pointed over to the other alleyway where Batman was now standing. “And I saw this sniper here. I knew that he was going to try and shoot Batman, but he would’ve gotten away in time and then the sniper would’ve been scared because Batman’s scary, so I decided to put my own little twist on things and scare him first!”

Twilight and Rainbow blinked. “What?!” Rainbow demanded, her voice cracking.

“You’re crazy, Pinkie!” Twilight said.

Pinkie held up her hoof. “I am not crazy, I’m just ahead of the curve!” She said with a wink. “This isn’t important right now. What is important is helping Batman save Talia and stop Joker!”

She bounced over to Batman, leaving Twilight and Rainbow in the alleyway alone.

“See? Crazy!” Twilight said to Rainbow.

“I know!” Rainbow said with a groan. “Come on, let’s get this over with so we can go home.”

They joined Batman and Pinkie in front of the theatre. Batman simply glanced at them for a moment before he made his way toward the door to the theatre.

“We’re all here if you need us, Batman.” Rainbow said.

Batman grunted, but did not stop walking. He opened the door and stormed inside. The three ponies went inside right behind him. Twilight slowly shut the door and turned around.

The inside of the theatre was an absolute wreck. They didn’t expect anything different though. There were stumps of chopped off wood sticking up in the ground where the chairs used to be. The chairs themselves were stacked in huge piles in each corner of the room. The room’s architecture suggested that this theatre had once been very posh, fancy, and had a very good reputation. Although the room was a wreck, the old stories carved in the banisters and the walls remained.

Directly in front of them, they saw Joker standing on a stage. The wall behind him had the words “THE TERROR” projected on it. Talia was tied op right behind Joker. Batman, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Twilight all stepped out in the middle of the room and waited.

Joker turned around to face them. “Hurry up and take your seat, Batman.” He stepped out of the way and revealed Talia to them. “The show’s about to begin!”

He stepped behind Talia, pointing his gun at her head. He kicked the back of her legs and she buckled to her knees. Batman stepped closer.

“Let’s just talk about this.” He said.

Joker gave a taunting giggle. “Now you want to talk?” He crouched to the ground beside Talia, touching the barrel of the gun to her head. “Too late, Batman.”

Batman stood his ground while the ponies all braced themselves for the worst thing to happen.

“Give me the cure!” Joker ordered.

Batman stepped forward. “But you’ve already got the cure!”

Before Joker could reply, Talia broke free and elbowed the gun out of Joker’s hand. She grabbed his arm and twisted it while simultaneously grabbing the hilt of the sword around Joker’s waist and unsheathing it. She placed it at Joker’s spine.

“Talia, no!” Batman screamed.

Talia ignored Batman and shoved the sword through Joker’s chest. Joker gave s shocked exhale as he stared at the blade. Talia kicked Joker and he fell off the stage, landing on his chest. The sword was left sticking out of Joker’s back. He was dead.

“Oh my gosh…” Twilight breathed.

“He’s… He’s dead…” Rainbow said.

Pinkie just continued to stare at Joker’s body. Talia jumped off the stage and walked toward Batman, rubbing her hands together.

“Problem solved.” She said, walking past him.

Batman took his gaze off Joker’s body and glared at Talia. “You didn’t need to-”

“Why?!” Talia demanded, whipping around. “You would never do it, you left me no choice.”

“There is always a choice.” Batman said.

Talia walked toward him, reaching behind her. “I had to save you.” She produced the remaining vial that Freeze had locked in his safe. “Harley Quinn stole it for him, I took it back.”

Batman looked at vial for a moment longer before turning away. He walked over to Joker’s body and crouched beside it. Talia walked over beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“It’s over.” She said.

Pinkie shook her head. None of this made sense. It was too easy. Joker looked like he had been completely cured of all his sickness, yet the cure was completely untouched. Talia had stolen it back from Harley before she even gotten it to Joker.

“No…” Pinkie said quietly. “Something isn’t right.”

She could see Batman’s gears spinning in his head as well. He was thinking the exact same thing. She knew that Joker was the kind of person that loved to put on a show. She was exactly like that. It had to come to a giant climax or else it wasn’t fun for anyone. Joker dying right here is about as un-climactic as you can get.

A thought entered her head. She closed her eyes remembered the first time she encountered Joker. He was on the phone with someone.

She could hear his voice as clear as day in her head. “So how do you keep a secret from the world’s greatest detective? Well do you know? You stick it right in front of him, right under his long pointy nose, and wait!”

Another thought entered her mind. Two of the clown thugs had talked to her right after she talked to Joker. “Joker wants you to think he’s sick then wham! Gotcha!”

Multiple scenarios were running through her head a mile a minute. Everything she had ever done, seen, and heard was playing back in front of her eyes again. She thought of the time she made multiple clones of herself and nopony could tell who the real Pinkie Pie was. She had fooled everypony in Ponyville.

She also thought of the time she used a Fluttershy costume at the Crystal Empire to go undercover. She fooled Twilight into believing that she was actually Fluttershy.

The last thing she though of was Queen Chrysalis. She had completely changed her appearance to look like Princess Cadence at the wedding.

An image of the changeling came to her mind. Chrysalis was standing in complete darkness. She slowly turned toward Pinkie Pie and grinned. Suddenly, her head began to change. She now had green hair, a white face, and blood red lips that curled into a sadistic smile.

Her face and her voice were the spitting image of Joker’s. “You fell for the old ‘fake Joker’ gag, Batman!”

The visions vanished and Pinkie opened her eyes in horror. “Oh no…” She breathed.

Batman shot to his feet and whipped around. “TALIA!” He screamed.

They all heard a gunshot echo through the room and dust fly everywhere around Talia. She gasped and arched her back in shock. She started to fall forward, but Batman caught her. Twilight and Rainbow ran to Batman’s side while Pinkie turned around to the balcony above the entrance. An evil clown chuckle echoed through the room after the gunshot dissipated.

“I… I’m sorry, beloved… I didn’t know…” Talia breathed.

She took one final look into Batman’s eyes sorrowfully before her eyes closed and her body went limp. The vial she was holding rolled out of her hand and landed beside the Joker’s body.

The laughing was coming from behind them. “Encore!” Joker called. “More! Bravo!” He came into the light and started wheezing.

Pinkie recognized him as the real Joker: the sick Joker. He had gotten much worse. More of his flesh was showing on his face and his green hair was more than halfway gone. His eyes were extremely bloodshot. He looked very weak.

Batman turned around to face him. “It was never you…”

Joker continued laughing and wheezing. “Not always! Well, sometimes.” He coughed again and rested on his arms. “Confusing, isn’t it?”

He started waving his gun around, motioning as he spoke. “I know I’d want to know just what the hell is going on if I were you.” He started giggling and coughing again. “Let’s just say, in times like these, its important to keep up…” He started coughing violently. “…appearances.” He wheezed with a bloody smile.

He stood up as straight as he could. “But first, if you would be so kind.” He slowly raised his gun and pointed it at Batman. “Hand. Over. My. Cure…”

Batman carefully set Talia on the ground next to Rainbow and Twilight before getting to his feet. They both started examining Talia and checking her.

Suddenly, the fake Joker’s eyes shot open. His hand slammed on top of the cure and he gripped it. He started to get to his feet. At the same time, his arms began pulsing. His white gloves turned to a sickly shade of tan. He slowly started to arise, the tan color spreading up his arms. He gave a deep grunt as he slowly brought one foot up and stomped it on the ground. His foot vanished in a pile of rough-looking sludge that seemed to get bigger.

“Ladies and Gentlemen…” The real Joker announced from behind them.

Pinkie and Batman slowly backed up. Rainbow and Twilight also began to back up with Talia as the fake Joker slowly stood up, the sword still protruding from its back. With every little movement, it turned more and more into a monstrous version of the Joker.

“…for one night only, standing in for yours truly, and doing a damn fine job of it…” Joker continued.

The fake Joker thrust its arm out and it completely turned into a giant, tan, rough appendage with claws. It began to ripple and pulse everywhere. All that was left that looked like Joker was its head.

“…I give you…”

Its head began to ripple and pulse until it faded and contorted into a stump with two eyes and a set of sharp teeth.

“…Clayface!”

Clayface roared and glared down at Batman. He was at least as big as Solomon Grundy was if not bigger. Batman stayed where he was and glared back at him.

“You weren’t even supposed to be in here, Karlo. Why sign up with Joker?” Batman demanded.

“Easy…” Clayface growled. His right hand molded into the shape of a massive hammer. Clayface looked down at Batman. “...The role of a lifetime!”

He brought the hammer down toward Batman. He rolled backwards out of the way and got to his feet. Clayface laughed hard and his arm turned back to normal.

“One. Last. Chance!” Batman warned.

“Oh lighten up, Bats! The final act’s just starting!” Joker called from above. “And it’s a doozy…”

Pinkie glanced at Twilight and Rainbow. They were busy carrying away Talia’s body on stage. She turned her attention to Clayface. Batman pulled out a freeze grenade and threw it at Clayface. It vanished inside him, turning a small portion of him blue. Clayface looked down and back up at him.

“Let’s do this!” He brought his arm back and punched the ground in front of Batman.

Batman dove to the left and got to his feet. Clayface had brought his other arm back and stretched it out to punch the ground where Batman was now standing. Batman flew backwards and landed in a pile of rubble.

“Hey! Leave him alone!” Pinkie ordered.

She charged at Clayface as fast as she could. He turned to her just as she plunged her hoof into his leg. Her hoof got stuck. She jerked and tugged it as hard as she could, but her hoof stayed lodged inside his leg. She looked up at Clayface with a nervous smile. Clayface reached down and grabbed Pinkie in his massive hand.

“Let me go! Put me down right now!” She screamed.

Clayface brought her up to his eye level and stared at her for a moment. Batman began throwing freeze grenades at him again. Clayface glanced at Batman and back at Pinkie Pie. He brought her back behind him and threw her at Batman as hard as he could. Batman dove out of the way while Pinkie flew past him and landed in a pile of wreckage behind Batman.

She tumbled and fell down to the ground. She was covered in scratches and was bleeding in many parts of her body. She weakly looked back up to see Twilight teleport over to her from the other side of the room.

“Pinkie! Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!” She pled.

Pinkie could hardly move. She looked at Twilight for a moment before she opened her mouth. “Hm… I… I’m…okay…Twilight…” She wheezed.

Twilight’s eyes widened. She put her hooves to Pinkie’s cheeks. “Hey. Look at me, Pinkie. You’re going to be just fine. I promise.”

Pinkie smiled. “I…know… Just… just beat this guy… so we can go home…”

Pinkie shut her eyes and went unconscious. Twilight worked quickly. She teleported both of them over to the stage and carefully set her out of harms way. She then took a close look to what was wrong with her. Apart from the multiple physical injuries she had, Pinkie had broken a few ribs, and two of her legs. She was out for the rest of the fight.

Twilight got up and faced Clayface. Batman was throwing freeze grenades at him while Rainbow was flying around trying to distract him. Clayface reached out to grab her a few times, but Rainbow always evaded him.

Twilight noticed that Clayface was moving more sluggish than usual. His tan color was now more a faded gray. With every time he absorbed one of Batman’s freeze grenades, parts of his body glowed blue for a second.

Somehow, he managed to get a lucky hit at Rainbow Dash and she fell to the ground at his feet. Clayface towered over her and molded his fist into the shape of a hammer. He was about to bring it down on her when his movements slowed down significantly. He continued to get slower until he froze right where he was.

Rainbow looked up to see him completely still. He was now blue instead of tan. To her right, Batman charged at Clayface and climbed up his leg like he was a rock formation.

“What are you doing?!” Joker cried from above.

Batman ignored him and continued to climb up his back until he made his way to Clayface’s back. Batman grabbed the sword that was still lodged in his back and yanked it out. Clayface’s massive frozen body dropped to his knees.

“That’s cheating!” Joker yelled.

Rainbow quickly got to her hooves and ran away from them. Batman began swinging the sword wildly at Clayface. He gave a few swings before he sliced his chin open and plunged the sword into his back again. Rainbow barely caught a glimpse of the cure in Clayface’s mouth.

Batman did a backflip off him and landed in front of the screen. Clayface quickly thawed out and turned around to face Batman. Rainbow flew next to him and glared at Clayface.

Clayface roared and started spinning in circles. He went faster and faster causing multiple chunks of him to fly in every direction. Batman dove out of the way of the chunks while Rainbow expertly evaded them in the air.

Clayface finally stopped spinning and brought his fists back behind him. They turned into large metal balls with spikes on their surface. He leapt into the air toward Batman and brought them down on the ground. Batman dove out of the way just in time and quickly got to his feet.

Twilight stood strong on stage and began to fire a long burst of blue magic from her horn at Clayface. He slowly stood up to face Twilight and brought his arm back.

Rainbow flew in front of his face. “Hey ugly! Over here!”

Rainbow taunted him until he swatted her out of his face like a fly. Rainbow flew out of the way.

“Oh come on! You can do better than that!”

Clayface turned around and started swinging at her in the air. Rainbow chuckled and dodged every single time.

“I guess the first time you hit me was just dumb luck, huh? HA! What a loser!”

Clayface roared and started swinging faster and faster at Rainbow. All while Batman and Twilight were busy filling him up with freeze grenades and ice magic.

Eventually, Clayface couldn’t keep up with her in the very least. His tan faded and was replaced by icy blue-gray. He was frozen where he stood all over again.

“You’re supposed to be killing them, remember?!” Joker yelled.

Batman charged at Clayface and climbed up on his back again. He grabbed the sword and jumped off his back. This time, Clayface was completely frozen all the way through. Batman swung the sword over and over again at him. Bits and pieces of his hand began to fall off with every swing. Anywhere Batman swung, that part of Clayface was chopped off until he was nothing but a pair of massive legs.

“Find the cure!” Rainbow said.

Her and Twilight began rummaging through the pieces of Clayface that had fallen off. He had absorbed the cure inside him. Batman continued to swing his sword at what was left of Clayface while they searched.

“You’re making me late for my spa treatment!” Joker said.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at Joker.

“I mean it’s not like you have a girl to save anymore, is it?” He threw his head back and gave a wheezy laugh. “Oh! I’m sorry! Too soon?”

Joker pulled out a remote from behind his back and held it in front of him.

“Would a change of scenery help ease the pain?” Joker asked as he pressed the button.

Suddenly, they heard multiple high pitched beeping and several red lights began flashing all around them. Twilight, Rainbow and Batman looked at the floor in confusion for a moment before Twilight realized what they were. The beeping got faster.

“Rainbow! Look ou-”

The ground exploded in a massive fireball. They all shot into the air a few feet before they fell into the newly created hole in the ground. They fell for many feet straight down in the dark until they entered a dimly lit room. They braced themselves for impact. Rainbow and Twilight landed hard on their sides while Batman flipped around in the air just before he landed on his chest.

“Oww…” Twilight moaned.

Rainbow was also moaning in pain. “Ooh man… My… My wing…”

Twilight sluggishly looked up to her right at Rainbow. She was curling into a ball and gripping her wing with tears rolling down her face.

“Rain…bow… Just hang on… We’re almost done here…” Twilight wheezed.

She had the wind knocked out of her. She took a second to remember how to breathe before she slowly got to her hooves. She slowly looked around the room. In front of her, she saw a pool of clear liquid that had a red glow coming from inside. Multiple electrical wires were connected to machinery and generators all around them.

“Wha… What is this place?” Twilight asked.

“Ra’s Al Ghul’s Lazarus pit…” Rainbow weakly replied.

Twilight walked over to Rainbow and helped her up. Her wing was sprained, but not broken. She flapped it a few times to make sure it still worked. They turned around to see Batman slowly get to his feet. The sword had landed just inches in front of his face on the ground where he was laying. He grabbed the hilt and pulled it out of the ground.

A large pile of tan goo dropped from above and plopped down in front of the pit. Clayface had thawed out. Several smaller piles of him plopped down in various places around them and quickly took shape.

They all became sentient and began attacking them from all sides. Batman took a swing at a pair of them and they separated in two halves on the ground. After a second though, they grew back whatever was missing from them, doubling them and making them whole.

Batman and Twilight continued to assault the figures as best they could with ice while Rainbow began to hover around the room much slower than usual. Twilight blasted most away with her magic while Batman chopped them into two. They were very weak compared to the other enemies they had encountered tonight, but they were relentless.

The largest pile of goo at the edge of the pit began to rumble and the massive form of Clayface appeared. He was deformed more than usual. His jaw swung wildly far beneath his head and only one of his arms seemed to be working. He threw an occasional pile of himself at them, but they managed to dodge them.

Twilight began blasting Clayface with ice magic as hard as she could. It seemed to affect him much more now than it had before. After holding her blast for a few seconds, he roared and disappeared into his pile again.

More Clayface clones appeared. Twilight cursed under her breath as she readied herself for another wave. Three came at her all at once. She bit her lip and began to fire her magic in every direction all at once. It did more than take care of them.

They all worked together for a few more moments. Clayface popped out of his pile again and threw another wad of goo at Twilight. She caught it with her magic and froze it in mid-air before throwing it back at Clayface.

It hit him as hard as a freight train. He threw his head back and turned completely blue. Batman threw another freeze grenade in his mouth just for good measure. He groaned as it exploded inside him. The rest of the Clayface clones also froze at the exact same time he did. Clayface moved in slow motion until he was completely still.

“Get the cure!” Rainbow yelled.

She took off toward Clayface. His mouth was open wide to reveal the tiny vial of blue cure lodged in his throat. She eyed it and dove inside his mouth. Clayface began moving again and swallowed her whole.

“Rainbow!” Twilight screamed.

She ran forward and blasted him with magic. Clayface screamed and wailed as Twilight began chopping him to pieces with her magic blasts. Finally, Rainbow exploded out of him and flew into the air. Clayface was left in a smoking pile of goo.

Rainbow landed on the ground covered in Clayface goo. She flapped her wings to get as much of it off as she could. In her mouth, she held the cure. She placed it in her hoof and extended it out to Batman. Batman grabbed it and twisted the lid off. He placed it on his lips and drank half of its contents.

Twilight and Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the black veins on Batman’s face fade away. He was already looking loads better. Batman rubbed his lips together and placed the lid back on the vial.

“Get out of my way, Bats!” Joker wheezed from above. “I’ve got a date with immortality!”

The trio looked above them. Joker was standing on a generator directly above the Lazarus pit.

“No! Stop him!” Twilight screamed.

Batman grabbed the sword and threw it into the air. He caught it upside-down and threw it as hard as he could at the generator. Joker ducked and looked at the sword sticking out of the electrical wires. The generator began to groan and creak until the wires suspending it to the ceiling snapped and it fell.

“No! No! NOOO!” Joker screamed.

The generator fell out of its metal casing and swung back toward Clayface. It smacked him square in the head and sent him flying back into the Lazarus pit. Clayface mixed with the Lazarus and started short-circuiting the electrical equipment. Lightning began to spark everywhere before the pit exploded, sending all three onlookers flying backwards.

---

Rainbow slowly stirred awake. She weakly opened her eyes. Directly in front of her on the ground was the rest of the cure. She slowly reached her hoof out and grabbed it. She shakily got to her hooves and looked around. Twilight was back against the wall to her right, still unconscious, while Batman was directly beside her. He was just waking up.

The room was now dark except for the red light the emanated from the Lazarus pit. Electricity sparked from the right. Everything else was completely silent.

“Quick! The cure!” Joker wheezed from somewhere in the room. “What are you waiting for? Come on!”

Rainbow looked around, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. Batman slowly got to his knees, but couldn’t seem to bring himself to his feet. Rainbow looked at him for a long time before she stared at the cure.

“I killed the Bat’s girlfriend, corrupted your best friend, poisoned Gotham and hell, it’s not even breakfast!” Joker giggled before wheezing. “But so what? You’re forgiving by nature, plus you’ve been with the Bat all this time! We all know you’ll save me…”

Rainbow continued to stare at the cure for the longest time. “He’s told me so much about you; you and your sick, twisted mind. The way you torment and murder others for pure amusement, the way you kill countless people just because you can, and how you twist others’ minds into believing anything you want them to.”

Joker started to giggle. “You sound just like him! What are you, his biggest fan?!”

Twilight started to stir. She sat up and looked at Rainbow. Batman was looking at her as well. Rainbow continued to stare at the vial in her hoof.

“Every decision you’ve ever made ends with death and misery. People die, Batman will stop you…” She gripped the vial in her hoof and looked at Batman. “…and you’ll just break out and do it again.”

Joker started to giggle again. “Think of it as a running gag!”

He flew down from somewhere behind her. He plunged a knife deep inside her front leg and Batman’s arm at the same time. Rainbow screamed in pure agony and tried bucked him off her, unintentionally dropping the cure. The vial fell and shattered on the ground.

“NOOOOO!!!” Joker screamed.

Batman grabbed him and threw him to the ground. He yanked the knife out of his arm and threw it to the side. Twilight was already on her hooves and running toward Rainbow as fast as she could go.

Rainbow was screaming and wailing in pain as blood began to seep out of her wound like water in a faucet. Batman grabbed the knife and yanked it out of her. She sat down on the ground and Twilight started looking at the wound.

Joker rolled over on his arms and knees and scrambled toward the spilled cure. No one tried to stop him, they just watched as he started scooping up some of the liquid in his hands and licking them. Most of the cure had dissolved by now however. Joker didn’t give up. He continued scooping up as much as he could for a moment before he realized it was pointless.

Joker breathed deeply and glared hatred at Rainbow and Batman. “Are you happy now?” He growled.

Rainbow sniffed and took a quivering breath. “Do you want to know something funny?” She asked shakily. “After all those people you killed, after all my friends you tormented, and after turning Pinkie Pie against us like you did, I was always loyal to Batman’s beliefs.”

She took a tentative step toward Joker, who was now on his knees and looking down. “Even after everything you’ve done, I would’ve saved you.”

He started laughing hard and coughing harder. He looked up at Rainbow with a wide smile and toppled backwards. He rested on his arm and started coughing. “That actually is...” He coughed again and fell to his back. He gave another look at Rainbow. “...pretty funny!”

He started coughing violently before he gave another long laugh. Once his laughing stopped, he took a large breath. Then another. Then three. Then, he started giving short choppy breaths for another second. He sat his head up slightly and barely choked in a breath before he exhaled and relaxed.

His eyes rolled back and the last portion of air left his lungs. Batman took a step forward and crouched beside him. Twilight walked right beside Rainbow and looked at her injury once again before turning back to Joker. Rainbow’s gaze never left him.

Batman turned around and glared at Rainbow, expressionless. She closed her eyes and sat down right where she was. It was finally all over. The Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime was dead.

---

None of them said a word as they approached the theatre doors. Pinkie was waiting for them up above. Twilight informed her of what had happened in a very vague manner. Rainbow said nothing at all. She just continued limping after Batman. Pinkie could easily sense that whatever happened, it was not very happy. She followed after Batman with her two friends.

“Joker! Joker! Joker! Joker!”

There was chanting coming from outside. All the clown thugs must’ve assumed Joker would win. Twilight opened the doors with her magic and Batman walked through. They all followed him. They watched as the clown thugs, one by one stopped chanting and moved out of their way. Batman was holding the dead Joker in his arms while the three ponies limped behind him.

On their right, they saw Harley Quinn. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands in shock at what she saw. Pinkie merely glanced at her before she looked away and continued walking. All the thugs simply stood at the front of the theatre behind them and stared at them as they walked away.

On the right, they saw Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack. They were all just as shocked as the thugs were when they saw Batman carrying Joker through the streets.

“Oh my goodness…” Fluttershy whispered.

“T-Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“Rainbow? What happened?” Applejack said.

Rainbow didn’t even acknowledge her. Twilight looked up at her three friends. “Come on, girls. Let’s go.”

“Where… Where are we goin’?” Applejack asked.

Twilight turned around. “We’re going home.”

---

Rainbow continued walking after Batman. She didn’t remember walking back to the entrance, all she remembered was looking up after what felt like eternity to see the main entrance to Arkham City.

They were alone, all seven of them. None of the thugs had followed them. Batman stood in front of the main entrance for a long time. The six ponies stood in a line behind him. They just stared at him.

“I guess… this is goodbye.” Twilight began.

Batman did not reply.

Twilight stepped forward. “Bruce, I am so, so sorry for what happened to Talia. We all are. He just… He…”

“He had the last laugh…” Pinkie whispered.

They all looked at Pinkie. Pinkie was looking down at the ground. “He had the last laugh. He took away something precious to you. He loves doing that. This time, he did it just before he died.”

Batman did not reply.

“It’s not fair. Twilight’s right. There is no way we can completely say how sorry we are for you, Bruce. You’re a great person. You don’t deserve this.” Pinkie said.

Batman continued to say nothing for the longest time. “Life isn’t fair.” He finally said. “No matter what, it’s never fair. You six didn’t deserve to be in here. No one did, but especially you six.”

Batman slowly turned his head to look at them. “You should go.”

Twilight stepped forward. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Batman replied.

Twilight was about to protest, but she nodded. “O…Okay…”

Batman turned forward and slowly walked toward the entrance.

“For what it’s worth, Bruce.” Rarity said. “Thank you for everything.”

Everypony else took a turn to thank Batman for everything. Batman slowed his pace, but he did not stop. He didn’t even look back.

They watched the massive doors open and Batman walk through the entrance. A multitude of police cars and flashing lights surrounded the area outside, but Batman did not slow down. He walked toward a police car and set Joker’s body on the hood. An older police officer said something inaudible to Batman, but he simply walked away from the car and turned a corner.

The six ponies watched him with tears in their eyes. That was the last time any of them would see Batman.

“We should go.” Twilight said.

Rarity sniffed. “Yes, we should. Come on, Fluttershy.”

They all turned around. Twilight cast the spell on the ground and the portal reappeared. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack all walked inside. Pinkie walked over to Rainbow, who was still looking after Batman.

“Dash? You okay?” Pinkie asked her.

Rainbow didn’t reply right away. She blinked a few times and turned around toward the portal. “Yeah… I’m fine…”

Pinkie frowned at her response. She knew she wasn’t okay, but there was nothing she could do right now. She turned around and faced the portal. Rainbow slowly walked into the bright light and vanished. Pinkie looked at Twilight, who was waiting for everypony to go ahead of her. They exchanged sad glances with each other before they both stepped inside the portal together and vanished.

After they vanished, the portal began to pulse softly for a moment before it slowly faded away and disappeared. All that remained of the portal was a few magic twinkles of light that hovered in place around the plaza. After a moment, they too, vanished completely.

Author's Note:

It ain't over yet...

Comments

[Zekromic]

Let me guest, sombra is not out yet, right? Or maybe they'll get home discussing everything they went through
Pd: poor AJ left without a boss fight

[Sabo88]

Well, the end is just around the corner. It felt a little weird to have Rainbow doing the final speech instead of Bats, but it was a great chap nonetheless .

[GMZ_Casper]

Poor Rainbow Dash, she is going to be hurting for a long time to come from all that happen. The whole group will, to be fair. All because of some power-hungry, delusional jerks... This story has been awesome, in a sad way, and I'm going to miss it when it is over. You did a wonderful job with this masterpiece.

C&Cs:
We wont.
> Correction: "won’t”.
Joker gave s shocked exhale as he stared at the blade.
> Replace ‘s’ with ‘a’.
“Ra’s Al Ghul’s Lazarus pit…”
> Capitalize ‘pit’.

[Turky Bacon]

Pinkie held up her hoof. “I am not crazy, I’m just ahead of the curve!” She said with a wink.

Did...you just...? Nah!

Anyway, this was a great chapter! Can't wait to see what's in store next.

[ADHD365]

2514261
...............................................................dammit.
I dun goof'd.

[Black Hoof]

Well, there are a few typos here and here, and sometimes words and expressions repeated twice, like when Ra's put his sword through his chest and goes limp, then lands on a "A"'s spike and goes limp again. A proofreader could help in fixing these errors.
Now, thinking of the way the story is written, the characters blending in despite the clash between bright ponies and the dark Arkham, this was really gorgeous.
There a few stories on this site I read from the first chapter to the last updated (or final) one, without wanting to stop even if when was more than 100,000 words long. My Little Asylum is one of them. I can't wait for the epilogue of this wonderfully done fanfic.

[sonicandmario826]

Hey Twilight got the last hit on Clayface. Too bad we never go d out what happened to him in the series since he doesn't show up in Arkham Knight. Would have been interested seeing a Lazerous pit Clayface.

Wasn't a happy but the original didn't have one either. At least they were able to say goodbye.