My Little Arkham

by ADHD365

Patience

Applejack’s power nap had been pretty unpleasant. She had these strange, yet incredibly lifelike dreams. She didn’t know if they really happened or if they were part of her imagination; a side effect of the medicine she had been given, perhaps. She saw a blurry image appear for only a small moment of her. She saw herself still lying down in the hospital bed before everything went dark again. Then another image briefly appeared. It showed the officers running to the right and shouting something. They went out of her vision before they reached the door. She couldn’t understand what they were shouting. It sounded like a bunch of fuzzy, disorientated sounds. The image faded out and changed once again. This time she saw the church floor moving towards her. It looked like she was either floating or the ground had turned into a liquid. She barely saw two pairs of feet on either side of her peripheral vision, so she assumed she was being dragged somewhere. Then the image faded out once again.

She didn’t know if she was awake or still asleep. Every time she recalled the dreams, it was like she was experiencing them for the first time again. She felt herself slowly regaining consciousness, but her mind remained blank. She slowly began to feel her dream become lucid. She was standing in the middle of a giant void of nothingness. Every direction she looked was just black. She looked down to the ground. She saw her front hooves as clear as day, but she couldn’t see anything underneath them. She felt the ground underneath them, but she didn’t at the same time. She was literally standing on nothing.

“What in tarnation?” She tried to say, but she couldn’t. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She screamed as loud as she could, but there was still a deathly silence. She began to walk forward. Not knowing where to go, but she figured that she may as well walk while she thought.

Her mind replayed the dreams she had while she asked herself multiple questions. “Whats goin’ on? Where am I? Is this a dream or is this real? Why cant I hear anythin’?”

With every question she acknowledged, she began to notice that other thoughts came to her mind. Single key words or images randomly appeared in her mind. Green question marks appeared, an image of a brain, and words like ‘confusion’, ‘conundrum’, ‘riddle’, and ‘challenge’ also appeared.

She heard something. It was faint, but it was gradually getting louder with every second. It was a heartbeat. As it grew louder, the images and words became clearer. They soon projected themselves onto the environment around her. The heartbeat quickened, and the images multiplied. She began to feel nervous. Her dreamlike state was slowly turning into a nightmare. She breathed harder and faster as her eyes darted back and forth from image to image. Algebraic equations, blueprints, pictures, symbols, it was too much for her to take in all at once. She shut her eyes, trying to push them out of her mind. It didn’t work. They were still in her brain, as clear as day.

Applejacks eyes shot open and she screamed. This time, it was audible. The environment around her had changed. She was now in a small, darkened cell. Her heartbeat was not as loud, but it was still audiable. She was relieved it was all just a traumatic nightmare, but she was still worried because she wasn’t in the church anymore.

She looked around for any visual indications to where she was. As expected, nothing looked familiar. The room was strange. On the walls around her were large, crude paintings of apples. The apples on the walls in front of her and behind her were green, while the ones on her left and right were red.

“What the hey is goin’ on? What’s with these pictures?” She asked out loud.

Below one of the pictures was a phrase spelled out in green. “Hi diddle diddle, time for a riddle.” She read. “Time for a riddle? What’s that s’pose to mean? I aint got time for this!”

Out of nowhere came a voice. “You only have as much time as you want, Miss Applejack.” It sounded distorted. Almost like a broken record, but Applejack could understand it.

“Whats goin’ on here? Lemme out right now!” Applejack was furious. “What are you talkin’ about?! Are you the one who kidnapped my other friends?! I’m gonna break outta here and rescue ‘em all before I find you and teach you a thing or two!” She yelled.

The man laughed. “Oh please! I don’t have your friends, not yet anyway.”

“What do you mean ‘Yet’?! Who are you?!” She demanded.

“Oh I’m sorry! I got so carried away by watching you run around like a brain damaged mule that I didn’t properly introduce myself. I am Edward Nigma. Otherwise known as the Riddler!” He boasted

“Well, ya seem pretty show-offy and uptight if ya ask me.” She scoffed.

His tone changed immediately to one of anger. “Well I didn’t ask you!”

Applejack grinned. “So what exactly do ya want? I kinda got stuff to do here and this seems like a huge waste of my time, so lets get it over with nice and quick.”

“What I want is to show that I am the smartest being in all of Arkham! I use riddles, conundrums, and various other challenges to assert my intellectual dominance over the rest of the idiots in here. However, I remain optimistic that I may one day find someone in here that is smarter than the average inmate in this pennitenary.” Riddler said.

Applejack looked confused. “So you want me to answer a bunch of brainiac, mumbo jumbo questions to see if I’m smart?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” He replied.

Floodlights turned on, causing the room to be totally illuminated immediately. Applejack shut her eyes to stop them from stinging because of the sudden light. She heard machinery beginning to start up from all around her. She squinted her eyes and began to look around the now illuminated room. She couldn’t see anything above her, the lights were too bright. On the floor she could now clearly see another written phrase. ‘Are you up to the challenge?’ She began to look nervous

Riddler laughed. “I know everything about you little ponies. I even know all of your names and what your cutie marks mean. Strange thinks he’s the brains of Arkham, but that proves he really is an imbecile.”

“What do you mean? What do I do?” She asked.

The two walls on her left and right shuddered slightly.

“You are going to take my little challenge that I ingeniously prepared just for you. If you don’t, you will die.”

The two walls shuddered again. More violently this time. Then they began to inch together. Applejack looked worried. “What do I do? What do I do?!” She yelled.

“Simply stop the walls from closing in. Easy, right?” Riddler chuckled.

“But how?! I don’t have any magic or tools or anything! These walls will crush me flat!” She began to panic as the walls slowly began to push themselves together.

Riddler let out a sigh of frustration. “Fine. Since you’re too stupid to understand this conundrum yourself, I suppose I can give you the answer in the form of a simple riddle.”

A canvas dropped down from the ceiling in front of her and a phrase appeared on it. Riddler read it aloud.

“Riddle me this!
Bucky McGillicutty and Kicks Mcgee
Should be all you need to set yourself free.”

Applejack looked down to her hooves. Was she supposed to push on the walls? She ran over to the wall on her left and pushed with all her might. The wall didn’t show any signs of stopping. She continued to push and push as hard as she could. It was no use. She looked to the opposite wall. Then she started thinking again.

The apple painting on the wall, her nicknames she had for her hooves, the fact that Riddler had mentioned her cutie mark, she was connecting the dots. Then she had an idea. She backed away from the wall and faced the opposite wall. Shifting her weight to her front legs, her back legs lifted into the air and she bucked the wall as hard as she could.

She turned around to see what had happened. Sure enough, the wall had stopped moving. She prepared to buck the wall again. Once she did, the wall backed up a few inches.

She had figured it out.

“See? You CAN do it! Continue to play my little game for as long as possible! I’m certain it would break your friends’ hearts if they came in and found ‘applesauce’ instead of AppleJACK, so to speak.” Riddler said.

Applejack gagged at the thought. “That’s disgusting, Riddler! I ain’t plannin’ on stoppin’ until I get outta here, so ya’ll better shut your mouth!”

She ran to the other side and did the same thing. The wall stopped moving and she also managed to back it up. The opposite wall began to move again, however. As she made her way back to it, the wall she just stopped started moving again too. She looked at the walls, confused. This little game was not going to be a fun one...

---

“She was so kind. So gentle. I cant begin to fathom how anyone could bring themselves to hurt a creature as sweet as Fluttershy.”

Freeze had spent the previous minutes talking with Rarity. At first, she was under the impression that Freeze had done something to Fluttershy to drive her insane with fear. Rarity figured it was the only way possible for her to escape the way she did. However, Freeze told her what really happened in the little room between him and Fluttershy, and Rarity believed him.

“So she reminded you of your wife. Nora, was it?” Rarity asked. Freeze nodded. “That’s why you couldn’t bring yourself to hurt her.”

“One of the many reasons, yes.” Freeze said.

Rarity looked ashamed. She had been extremely rude to Freeze for really no reason at all. Upon their meeting, she had bucked him in the chest as hard as she could, and in his weakened state, it probably really hurt.

“Well Victor, for whatever it’s worth, I’m very sorry for the way I’ve acted toward you. I was just unaware of what really happened between you two, and everyone in here said you were extremely evil. You don’t seem evil to me though. You seem quite pleasant.” Rarity apologized.

“Fluttershy said the same exact thing. I hope she found a way out of here and that she is alright.” He replied.

There was a long pause as Rarity tried to find the words to say next. She had done what she wanted to do, asked what she wanted to ask, but her expectations were way off. Mr. Freeze was nothing like what she had been told about him. Fluttershy and Freeze had built a small friendship between eachother. Any friend of Fluttershy’s was a friend of hers, so she only thought it was right to offer up her help and find a way to escape.

“Well, is there anything I can do to help you Victor?” She asked. “I want to leave this place as quickly as possible myself. I think we can work together to get out.”

Freeze sat up slightly. “I can’t leave without my suit. Cobblepot won’t just let us walk out of here either. He’ll have increased his security since Fluttershy escaped. Not to mention he has control of my weapons.”

Rarity tilted her head to the side. “Weapons?”

“My Freeze Technology weapons. I’m certain he will use them for his own pleasure.” Freeze said. “He has control of this entire museum using guards, weapons, and anything else he can get his greedy fingers on. Finding a way out will not be an easy feat.”

Rarity thought for a long moment. “Did Fluttershy say anything to you after she did whatever it was she did to escape?” She wasn’t aware of Fluttershy’s unusual methods of wildlife control.

“Yes, she told me that she would send help as soon as she found your friends. Other little ponies, I assume.” Freeze said.

Rarity nodded. She wished Twilight was here. Twilight was better at coming up with plans than she would ever be. She had to think about this from many perspectives. Weigh her advantages and disadvantages in the grand scheme of things. She had her magic. Again, she wished Twilight was here. A simple spell would be all it took and they could be out of there in ten seconds flat.

She also had a very fragile alliance with Cobblepot. He trusted her enough to let her live, but that was it. Finally, there was the small chance that Fluttershy would find the rest of their friends and let them know what’s going on in the museum. She could always rely on her friends for help if she needed it, but she had no way of knowing if Fluttershy was okay, or if she had found the rest of their friends.

She decided on using her magic and Cobblepot’s trust against him. She didn’t know how, but that would be her first step. Sitting and waiting for help would be her backup plan. She hoped that she would get a chance to use her backup plan. Cobblepot had said that if she tried anything then she would be thrown under the iceberg and let ‘Grundy have some fun with her’. She didn’t know what he meant, but it didn’t sound good.

She heard the door out front slam open and Cobblepot was yelling. “I don’t give a damn what ya do with ‘em, just do it! Make it nice and painful for ‘em! If what Jack said is true, then we gotta get ready for the Bat!”

Freeze’s head popped up at the mention of the bat. “No…” He said quietly to himself.

Rarity sat next to him and stared. “What? What is it?”

Freeze’s expresssion grew angry. “Batman.”

Cobblepot walked through the door and turned to them. He was holding a large gun and still yelling into his radio. “Those bloody cops think they can mess with the Penguin, make sure they rot in hell!”

On seeing the gun, Freeze got up and started walking toward him. “Cobblepot! Return my weapons to me now!”

Cobblepot looked at him and laughed. “I don’t think you’re in a position to demand crap me right now, Freeze.” He said pointing the gun at him.

Freeze was engraged. “I said give them to me and release us now!”

Cobblepot looked at Rarity, who stood off to the side watching the argument. “Oh, you two plannin’ something behind my back, eh?”

Raritys eyes widened. “No! No of course not!”

He took a step toward her. “That’s sure what it looks like to me!” He growled.

Using what strength he had left, Freeze pounced on Cobblepot and tried to pry the gun from his hands. Cobblepot held onto it like it was glued to him. Freeze was too weak to put up a good fight so he began to punch and kick him as hard as he could. Cobblepot returned with a few strikes of his own.

Their hands were going all over the gun. The barrel was pointing directly toward Rarity. Cobblepot grabbed onto another part of the gun and accidentally pulled the trigger.

Freeze screamed. “No!”

A blue blast of ice shot directly at her and hit her hoof. It went numb immediately and she screamed from the icy pain. Her hoof was frozen in a block of ice that began to grow up her leg and surrounded her body. Freeze and Cobblepot stopped fighting and stared at her. She squirmed and writhed as much as she could until she was entirely wrapped in a huge block of ice except for her head.

She could hardly breathe. Her entire body was numb. She looked to them and tried to speak. “H-h-h-help-p m-m-me! P-p-p-pleas-se!” Was all she got out.

Freeze continued to stare in horror while Cobblepot got a huge smile on his face. Turning to Freeze he punched him in the face. Freeze went down hard.

“Well now there’s an idea!” Cobblepot shouted. “Oi! Two of you bastards get in here and put the ice man in the microwave! Then get her out onto the frozen lake! The rest of you bastards stay here and be ready for anything!” He walked out.

Two henchmen came into the room and began to pick up Freeze. Rarity watched them put him into the beach chamber and close the door before the cold got to her and she blacked out.

---

Pinkie Pie pushed the door to the church open. She helped Fluttershy inside and shut the door. She could tell something was wrong. It was dead silent inside. They slowly made their way to the second set of doors and slowly opened them. They slowly poked their heads inside and looked around.

“Um, h-hello?” Fluttershy whispered.

“Helloooooo! Anyone here?!” Pinkie called loudly.

Fluttershy flinched as her friend’s loud outburst cut through the eerie silence. Pinkie looked around and waited for a response.

“Huh! I guess they aren’t here, Fluttershy!” She said.

“Um, Pinkie? Uh, don’t you think we should, um, be a little quieter?” Fluttershy said.

“Oh! Sorry!” Pinkie whispered with a little giggle. “Where do you think they went? I don’t think they would just leave out of nowhere. Especially if they were watching Applejack.”

Her smile left and Pinkie gasped at the sudden realization. She ran inside to the bed where Applejack had been sleeping when they left. As she feared, Applejack was also gone. She looked all around the area, in the back room, by the organ, and found no one. She ran back to Fluttershy, who was curled up in a little ball on the floor by the door.

“Everyone’s gone! Even Applejack!” She said.

Fluttershy looked up to her. “Oh, that’s terrible! Where would they go? Why would Applejack go with them if she knew you were coming right back?”

Pinkie thought for a moment. “I dunno, Fluttershy.” She turned around and briefly observed the interior of the church before turning to help her up. “First, lets get you fixed up.”

“B-but Pinkie, you’re not a doctor!” Fluttershy said.

“Don’t you worry yourself, Fluttershy! I’m your auntie Pinkie Pie, remember? I’ll get you fixed up in a jiffy!” She reassured her with a smile.

Fluttershy looked annoyed at Pinkie acting older than her, but she pushed it aside and went with her. It was Pinkie Pie, after all. “Okay, Pinkie. If you’re sure.”

“Yay!” She exclaimed.

Pinkie bounced alongside Fluttershy as they made their way into the empty church. Fluttershy looked around the interior of it. She didn’t know how to feel about this place. Everypony had said that it was the safest place in Arkham City, but it didn’t look any less scary than anywhere else she had been tonight. She wasn’t leaving Pinkie Pie’s side no matter what.

They made their way into the left half of the church where Pinkie had previously hid from the clown thugs. After she helped Fluttershy onto the hospital bed on the far left wall, she looked around for medical supplies. She didn’t need to look far. There was a medical crate on the opposite side of the room next to the confessional.

“See? Look, Fluttershy! They wouldn’t just leave all of their stuff here if they were just moving to another spot! I really think someone took them!” Pinkie said.

Fluttershy didn’t say anything, but she curled up tighter on the bed. Pinkie began rummaging through the crate until she found what she was looking for. She returned to Fluttershy holding some cleaning alcohol, clean rags, water, some medical gauze, and bandages. Despite her reassurance, she really didn’t know much about medicine. She had to at least try. She wouldn’t try anything too big that might cause Fluttershy serious long-term harm, but she would try to wrap her cuts up and get her strength back.

She set the supplies on a small table next to the bed, removed the makeshift bandages from Fluttershys flanks and poured some water onto a rag. She began rub away some of the dried blood around her cuts. Hard enough to get most of it away, but gently enough to cause Fluttershy as little pain as possible. She flinched a few times when Pinkie pushed too hard in some places. Pinkie would apologize and try again more lightly. Eventually, all the dried blood was gone.

Next would be the hardest part. Pinkie inhaled deeply as she got the alcohol ready. “Okay, Fluttershy. Bear with me here, this is gonna sting.”

Fluttershy began to shake and she looked extremely nervous. “O-o-okay.” She gulped.

Pinkie poured the alcohol onto another rag and held it in her right hoof. She set her left hoof on the bed next to Fluttershy. She wrapped her front hooves around it and held it as tight as she could. Now Pinkie was worried. All her joyful, bubbly optimism had been to only delay the inevitable by calming Fluttershy down. She thought she would be more comfortable when this time came.

“Okay, you ready?” She asked her.

Fluttershy replied with a teary-eyed nod.

“One.”

“T-t-two.”

“Three.”

Pinkie set the rag on her flank and pressed down. It didn’t sting all at once until she began to rub the rag around. Fluttershy yelped and wimpered as she began to feel the throbbing stings start around her cutie mark. She cried as she held onto Pinkie Pie as tight as she could. Pinkie had tears in her eyes too.

“Its okay, Fluttershy. Just a few more seconds.” She reasurred.

Fluttershy tightened her leg in hopes that it would subdue the pain a little, and also to resist the urge to move her leg out of the way.

Once Pinkie had finished, she threw the rag onto the other side of the bed and gave Fluttershy a big hug. Fluttershy returned the embrace as tight as she could.

“Its done. You’re okay now.” Pinkie said.

Fluttershy continued to cry softly. Her flank still stung, but she could feel it going away now. They continued to hug until she couldn’t feel the sting anymore.

“I-its gone. The sting is gone now, Pinkie.” She whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They released and looked at each other. “Okay, let’s get it wrapped up then.” Pinkie said with a smile.

She went over to the small table and got the bandages and the gauze. She returned to Fluttershy and put bandages onto her smaller scratches before beginning to wrap up the larger wounds with the gauze. She carefully wrapped her up until the roll was out. She decided to use a little bit more of another roll for good measure.

“There we go, good as new!” She said. “Do you wanna try walking around a bit?”

Fluttershy sat up in the bed. “J-just give me a minute.” She said.

Pinkie went over and helped her onto the ground. Once she had all four hooves on the ground, she took one step forward. She slowly began to apply pressure to her injured leg. The pain was still there, but it was extremely weaker than it had previously been. She walked around the room a little bit before she went back to Pinkie Pie.

“Thank you so much Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy said.

“You’re welcome, Fluttershy! Anything for you!” Pinkie said.

They looked around the room for anything they could use: bandages, food, water, anything. Fluttershy drank lots of water. She desperately needed it after her injury. They didn’t find any food, though. They took some water, and a few bandages before making their way to the door once again. They took one more look inside before pushing through the doors again and went out into the cold.

They saw a three inmates on the other side of the gate. They were dressed in the same blue coats that Jack Ryder was wearing. Fluttershy now felt comfortable enough that she suggested to Pinkie that they ask them about some food. She agreed and they both went to go ask them.

“Excuse me sirs?” Fluttershy asked them. All three of them turned to her and Pinkie as they approached.

“What the hell?” The one in the middle asked aloud.

“Woah, Stan wasn’t kidding.” The left man said.

Fluttershy stood a few feet away from them. “Um, do you think you could help us? We’re uh, trying to find some food.”

They exchanged glances with one another before the right man spoke. “They usually drop it off on the bridge on the way to the steel mill. Just up that broken freeway there.” He pointed to a destroyed portion of road that led up to the freeway.

“Those animals will take all the food before you even get a sniff of it though.” The left man warned. “I haven’t eated in three days. They act like total savages for the littlest bit of crappy stuff that resembles dog food.”

Pinkie stepped forward. “How much food do they usually drop?”

“Lots, but Jokers crew take it all before anyone else gets any.” The middle man replied.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “D-did you say Joker? Where does he stay in here? Why do his men take all the food for himself?”

“He’s at the steel mill. Its like an abandoned amusement park over there. Hes got old roller coasters, carnival games, and a ferris wheel. Hes an evil, twisted guy.” The middle man replied.

Pinkie’s attention was immediately lost at the mention of the words ‘amusement park’. “Fluttershy! We should go and see if they will give us some food!” She said.

“Pinkie, uh, that’s not a good idea.” She replied softly.

She started bouncing in circles around her. “Whatdaya mean its not a good idea?! It’s a great idea! If this Joker guy really loves jokes and games as much as me, we’ll be best friends in no time! It’s brilliant!” She said happily.

“Pinkie, you don’t understand. Joker is a really-“

“Oh I cant wait! We’ll be best friends and we’ll play and party and laugh together! It will be so much fun! Maybe he knows how to get us back home!” She continued to bounce in circles around Fluttershy.

“Pinkie please listen to me! He is a really bad per-“

“We can play games and make friends with everyone in here and have just a huge party all the time! I hope those other clown guys don’t come though. They were rude! If they do come I hope I can brighten up their moods! Nopony likes a party-pooper after all! Am I right Fluttershy? I mean, Seriously! Who would want that? Hello?!”

“PINKIE!!” Fluttershy shouted as loud as she could and grabbed Pinkie as tight as she could with her front hooves to make her stop bouncing. “Please listen to me! Mr. Freeze told me all about him! He is an evil, evil, evil person! He does horrible things to people! Innocent people! He does it just to get a laugh! Im begging you! Don’t go over there! Please!”

Pinkie paused at Fluttershy’s warning. Then she started to giggle. “Silly Fluttershy! Don’t worry! I just want to look! If he doesn’t look as bad as you say, then we should at least ask! If it doesn’t look so good then we’ll come back! No biggie! Okay?”

“No, Pinkie!” Fluttershy snapped.

Pinkie was taken back at her sudden refusal. Fluttershy was very rarely like this. She stood her ground as firm as she could looked at Pinkie with utmost determination. “If you are going over there, then I’m staying here! I don’t want to take any chances at getting killed or worse over a little curiosity! You’re probably confident enough to go over there and be totally okay but I’m not!”

She was crying by the time she was finished yelling at her. She sat down where she was and sobbed. Now Pinkie felt sad too. She noticed that the three men were slowly walking away from them and headed toward a vast collection of junk and refuse underneath a broken freeway section in front of the ramp leading to the steel mill. It looked almost like a makeshift camp. Pinkie got an idea.

“Fluttershy?” She softly said. Fluttershy wiped away her tears and looked at Pinkie. “Why don’t you go with those men over there? It looks like that pile of junk is like another safe place. You can go over there and wait for me while I go and look for some food. If I cant find any, then I will come right back here and try again when they drop more food, okay?”

“Y-you Pinkie-Promise you wont go to the steel mill?” Fluttershy sniffed.

Pinkie smiled. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She covered her right eye with her hoof. Fluttershy smiled.

“O-okay Pinkie. Please be careful.” Fluttershy said.

Pinkie helped her up. “Don’t worry Fluttershy! I’ll be fine!” She said with a wink.

They briefly hugged and went their separate ways. Fluttershy watched Pinkie make her way over to the tall fence blocking her way to the other side. Fluttershy looked away for a moment to locate the three men. When she looked back, Pinkie was already on the other side of the fence bouncing off into the distance. Fluttershy was confused at first, but she shrugged it off. Pinkie Pie would forever be a mystery to her and her friends.

Fluttershy caught up with the three men and asked them about the camp. They told her that it was the next best thing to the church, safety-wise. They let her in and she sat down on a dirty mattresses inside one of the little shacks they had. She thought that she would try to rest as much as she could while she waited for Pinkie Pie to finish her search.

---

Rainbow flew a few feet in front of Twilight down the darkened street. Serving as their ‘eye in the sky’, she surveyed the area ahead to make sure it was clear of potential attacks while Twilight was running behind her. As they rounded the left corner, the street became smoggy. Rainbow squinted her eyes and saw a few inmates on either side of the street ahead. She motioned for Twilight to slow her pace. She complied and Rainbow flew down to her.

“There are a few guys on either side of the street up there.” She said.

“What are they doing?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow took a second to fly up and take another look ahead. She flew back to Twilight. “Theyre just standing around, minding their own business.”

“Okay. Lets just take it really easy down this street. You fly up above and let me know if anyone sneakes up on me. I’ll walk along the center of the street.” Twilight said.

“You got it, Twilight.” Rainbow saluted military-style.

Rainbow flew up to a desired altitude and nodded to Twilight. She began walking down the street swiftly but carefully. She kept her head down and her eyes forward, hoping to draw as little attention to herself as possible. She looked around and saw a few inmates on her right. Thankfully, they paid her no heed.

Suddenly she heard something. It sounded like angry screaming and it was far away. She stopped walking and looked up to Rainbow. She must have heard it too because she was also looking around for the source of the screaming. It was coming from around the next corner. Twilight continued walking down the street and turned left. As she continued, the screams were becoming louder. Rainbow descended until she was a few feet in the air above Twilight.

“What’s that coming from?” She asked her.

“I don’t know. We should check it out.” Twilight replied

They continued down the next street. With each few steps, the screaming became more and more clear.

“You know what I hate? Little pieces of crap like you! Look at you! All scared and cryin’, its embarrassing!” One voice yelled.

The screams were coming from a small, dark alley on their left.

“Please… Its not my fault!” The other voice was full of fear.

Rainbow looked worried. She turned to Twilight. “Should we help?”

Twilight didn’t reply. She was torn between what to do. She knew it was right to help, but if they did, they would be sacrificing valuable time. She though it best to ignore him and continue to the museum. Rarity was in trouble.

“Come on, Rainbow.” Twilight turned away from the alley and continued down the street.

Rainbow slowly followed behind. “Are you sure?”

Suddenly, the second voice cried out in terror behind them. “NO! STOP! PLEASE!”

They both stopped and turned around again to face the alley.

“SOMEONE HELP ME!”

His screams were accompanied by impact sounds. Whoever the voice belonged to was getting beat to a pulp.

“Ugh! Come one!” Twilight let out a sigh of frustration and ran toward the alleyway. Rainbow flew above the entrance and looked for the source of the screams for help. She saw two figures. One was laying on the ground cowering in fear while the other one was punching and kicking him as hard as he could.

The alley was narrow, but Rainbow angled herself and let gravity do its job. She dove toward the attacking inmate, gaining speed with every second. The ice air stung and her eyes began to tear up as she rapidly approached the inmate, but she didn’t stop.

“Hey! Leave him alone!” Twilight shouted as she rounded the corner to the alley.

The attacking inmate stopped and shot a glance to her. The next second, Rainbow’s front hooves made contact with the inmates head and he flew into the brick wall in front of him. Rainbow pushed off of him and flew backwards. He was out cold.

The man who was being attacked poked his head out from behind his arms to see his rescuer. Rainbow landed beside him and began to check the attackers unconscious body.

“T-thank you. I-I thought he was going to kill me.” He thanked.

Rainbow looked up to him. “No problem. Are you alright?”

She extended a hoof to him and he hesitantly took it. Twilight came walking up to them. “I’ll be okay.” He replied as he got to his feet.

“We heard you from all the way down the street. We couldn’t just walk away.” Twilight said.

“Thank you again.” He said. “W-who or what exactly are you?”

“I’m Rainbow Dash and this is Twilight. We’re ponies.” Rainbow introduced.

“Professor Hugo Strange had us put in here for some reason. Our friend is being held in the museum. Do you know how to get there?” Twilight asked.

The man shifted uneasily. “Um, yeah its down this street here.” He pointed to the street outside the alley. “But its crawling with Penguin’s guys. Getting in wont be easy.” He began to slowly walk backwards.

“Nothing has been easy for us tonight. We’ve been beat, humiliated, and we had an encounter with Batman.” Twilight said.

The man stopped and turned around to face them. “Wait. Did you say ‘Batman’?”

Twilight and Rainbow looked to each other. “Yeah, Batman beat up a bunch of freaky clowns inside the church. He saved us and medical team.” Rainbow repeated.

The man looked worried. “I wonder what he did to get put in here…” He said to himself. He looked up to them again. “Anyway, thanks again for the help. I better get out of here before he wakes up.”

He ran off. Twilight called after him. “You’re welcome! Good luck!”

He didn’t reply. Rainbow turned to Twilight. “Come on, let’s go find Rarity!”

Twilight nodded and they ran off down the street toward the museum. They didn’t encounter any more inmates or random acts of violence for a couple blocks. As they turned a right corner they saw a dark glass roofed tunnel beyond a tall gate. There was no one in front of the tunnel so they assumed it was safe to proceed. Rainbow flew over the gate while Twilight teleported to the other side.

They walked through the entrance, keeping their heads low and their eyes open. The inside of they alleyway tunnel was littered with boxes, garbage and other miscellaneous objects.

They both stopped to stand behind a few boxes stacked on one another and peered out from behind either side. Twilight saw some slight movement coming from the right. It was an armed henchman. It looked like he was patrolling the tunnel. Twilight got Rainbow’s attention and nodded to him silently.

“What do you think we should do?” She whispered to Rainbow.

“Not sure, Twilight. These guys have guns.” She replied,

Twilight looked to Rainbow. “There’s more?”

Rainbow nodded. “Two more guys over here. They all have guns.”

Twilight thought for a moment. Rainbow could easily find a way around them, all she had to do was fly. Twilight had a few disadvantages though. She couldn’t use her teleportation too many times in a row, it drained her magic too quickly and she had just used it a few moments ago.

Rainbow turned to her again. “Any options?” She whispered.

“Only one seems the best. Do you think you can do a quick fly around and see if there is another way to the museum than through here?” She asked.

Rainbow nodded again. “No problem. Be right back.”

She took off and flew out the exit. She pulled a 180 spin and looked around. The alley she was just in was covered by broken glass and stretched for a long way. There were henchmen on platforms overseeing the alley on either side of her. Doing a patrol sweep directly in front of her was a TYGER helicopter. It had a mounted gun on the nose and a searchlight shining wherever the gun was aiming. The light shone on a group of inmates to her right on a platform. They all began to run in many directions.

“Please! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” One of them shouted.

The helicopter remained suspended in the air for another second before it continued its patrol in the opposite direction of Rainbow. She gave a sigh of relief and flew in its direction.

There was another alley that turned right directly in front of Twilights position. It had a few sets of stairs leading up to either the right or the left. The left set of stairs led up to a train station. Beyond that lay the museum.

Rainbow turned around and headed back to the entrance to the alley. She landed on the other side of the gate and quietly made her way to Twilight. She was still waiting behind the boxes.

“There’s an alley with stairs leading right up to the museum just ahead and to the right.” She whispered.

“Okay. I’ve been thinking of a way to get around them” Twilight replied. “What if I levitate a box or something on the left side of them and I throw it against a wall, smashing it to pieces? They’ll go investigate, and we can run to the other side and up to the museum.”

Rainbow looked impressed. “That might work. Maybe being an egghead has its perks after all.” She smirked.

“Ha ha. Thanks a lot.” Twilight replied sarcastically as she turned her head around the left side of the boxes.

She squinted her eyes and tried to see something she could levitate in the alley beyond. The henchmen were still patrolling, but they were pretty far away, so she wasn’t worried about her head being out for a little bit. Still, she was ready for anything.

A discarded metal toolbox caught her eye. As she concentrated on it, both her horn and the toolbox began to glow and were wrapped in a magical field. She counted down in her head. “One…two…three!” She heaved the toolbox as hard as she could to the left. She hid behind the boxes with Rainbow and waited.

In the silence, the metal-on-metal crash was deafening. Twilight and Rainbow flinched as the violent crash echoed through the darkened alleyway. The henchmen patrolling shouted in surprise as well. One of them let a few rounds fly in the direction of the crash.

“What the hell was that?!” One of them shouted.

“Go check it out!” Barked another.

Twilight peered out from around the corner once again. All three henchmen were running to the left side of the alleyway to investigate the sound, leaving the right alleyway clear.

“Nows our chance! Lets go!” Rainbow whispered.

Twilight silently ran out from behind the boxes toward the alleyway. Rainbow flew up and hugged the glass ceiling as best as she could. They both made their way swiftly and silently. As Twilight rounded the corner, she slipped on an icy puddle and fell down. She quickly got up and ran as fast as she could toward the back of the alley. She stopped and hid behind a giant pillar.

She stayed hidden behind the pillar and waited for another minute. After she thought it was safe, she poked her head out and looked around. The staircase had been destroyed near the base of the pillar and was now reduced to a pile of metal. She looked up to the platform where the staircase had previously led to. Rainbow Dash was waiting for her.

“Twilight! You have to get up here! I found something important for you!” Rainbow said to her.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Just get up here quick!” Rainbow said with a tone of urgence. She then turned and ran up the stairs leading left.

Twilight took a few steps backwards and focused. She concintrated all her energy into her horn and it began to glow. She then vanished in a bright flash and reapeared instantly on the platform. She ran after Rainbow up the stairs. Rainbow was in the air with her back to Twilight and she was holding something.

Twilight approached her. “Rainbow, what is it? What did you find?” She asked.

Rainbow turned to face her. She was holding piece of paper and she looked more worried than Twilight had ever seen her before. She tossed it down and it landed right in front of her. “It’s a letter from Princess Celestia!”

Comments

[Rarityshy]

You have no idea how excited I was when I saw that this story had updated, please take all the time you need to make such a wonderful story

[ADHD365]

YOU ARE ALL SO NICE!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

[sneakyponybrony]

652419
Dude this story is great.... I wish i had creative talent LOL

[M-Tails-P]

Crap, Pinkie thought Joker is a good guy. This can't be good

[sonicandmario826]

And there all separated again. Hopefully Pinkie doesn't try to be friends with the Joker anytime soon.

Rainbow turned to face her. She was holding piece of paper and she looked more worried than Twilight had ever seen her before. She tossed it down and it landed right in front of her. “It’s a letter from Princess Celestia!”

So does that mean Spike is somewhere around here?