Bruce Wayne, dark knight of Ponyville

by ultronquake

By the Firefly's light: part one

Hooflyn, borne out of necessity and garnering a bad reputation. Hooflyn was where most refugees settled, over the decade transforming the jumbled shantytown constructed of tarpolion and scrap metal into a tightly packed urban landscape of brick and mortar. Hooflyn was burning.

Not the burning rage of social unrest caused by shoving the majority of minorities into one underfunded portion of the city. This burning was quite literal and deadly. A ten story apartment complex full of the poorest of the poor was being roasted from below, this suburb was often called the melting pot but that was hardly what they meant.

Already on the scene were the professionals, blue uniformed police ponies holding back the terrified crowd of onlookers, white clad EMT's fixing oxygen masks to victims who'd already been rescued. And the bravest of them all, the one in ten ponies who look a raging blaze and rather than run, they dove strait in. A diverse mix of pony folk made up the fire department, unicorns were using magic to maintain the structural integrity of the building while the earthponies made their carefully planned charge through all the while the pegasi were carrying down any ponies lucky enough to make it to the roof or an open window.

Down on the street level the fire chief, a mare relatively young for the position was overseeing the fire trucks, going back and forth helping those under her command with the hoses and by duty having to spare what few precious minuets she had to update the press. From experience she knew the building was lost, the hottest fires were moving towards the basement and the gas main. Even with that section cut off from the larger system there still was enough trapped inside those pipes to level the structure.

All that could be done was to try and slow it's progress enough to allow the escape of all those trapped inside. "Okay ponies let's make sure our crew has a clear exit point! And douse those flames before they spread to the higher floors, we still have civilians yet to be evacuated!" Her tone was firm and authoritative though you could hardly tell over the deafening roar of the blaze. Just then a short series of small explosions rocked the building. "Damage report!?"

A shrill unicorn barked out, "Not sure what happened but we cant hold the fifth floor much longer! Everypony needs to get higher up or get out now."

Quickly the fire chief ran to the radio tent that had been set up, calling in to those inside. "The fifth floor is done for, everyone continue the search on the sixth floor!"

On the inside of the burning monstrosity the fire fighters were working diligently, sweeping through the dozen or so apartments on that floor when the call came in. "Copy that chief! Alright everypony you heard the lady, we need to get off the floor ASAP! Don't wait to rendezvous at the stairs, just keep moving." One by one all his comrades responded, all except one. "Sunny Shine respond, didn't you hear we need to evacuate this floor?"

"I heard sir, but there's still a kid trapped up here!" rang Sunny's voice, muffled by the re breather on his muzzle.

"What's your location Sunny? I'll come assist you."

"West side of the building, apartment nine! (Just stay calm kiddo, were going to get you out of here pronto.)" He'd neglected to turn off the call button while assuring the child, over the system you could hear his tiny little voice shrieking.

The leader of the squad after seeing his other team members up the stairs began running full boar through the halls, dodging flame and cider at each turn. "Affirmative Sunny, I'll have the unicorn team keep your section of the building sound. Do what you can to get that foal secured, I'll-" *KA-THRASH* "Oh no, Sunny are you alright in there?!"

"We're fine, but what happened?"

"The damned hallway just fell through, you're going to have to hold tight in that room and wait for the ladder truck. It's still to hot for the pegasi to get close."

"Well tell em' to get on it, we're roasting in this room!" Sunny Shine wasn't exaggerating, the air inside the foal's bedroom was stiffing like an oven and small streams of smoke were pouring through the cracks in the floor. The little mule colt was simply terrified, his entire world was going up in flames and he'd somehow been left behind to watch it all burn. The firefighter had him pulled close so he could be protected under the flame retardant coat.

"Mister, when are we gonna get out of here, It's getting hard to breath."

"It'll be soon kiddo, just hold on a little longer-" *KA-THRASH* A second series of small explosions went off, this time much closer. The already weakened joists began to buckle and crumble beneath their hooves, suddenly half the floor caved in revealing the flaming maw of the inferno bellow. "Holy shi- Where's that Celestia damned ladder truck!?!" Sunny demanded over the radio as one by one the old oak planks making up the floor were crumbling and falling through.

"Were going as fast as possible but there's allot of debris in our path. Just hang on for five more-"

"In five more minutes we'll be charred to a crisp!" The little colt shrieked in terror, "Sorry kiddo, didn't mean to scare you." More and more of the floor gave way, continuously backing the two into the corner until they had less than five feet to themselves. Sunny was preparing himself for the great hereafter all the while shielding the colt's eyes so as he wouldn't have to see it coming, then something strange happened.

The something crashed through the ceiling above them and fell strait down into the fires, though he could only see it for a moment Sunny could have sworn it was some kind of animal. After only a moment the animal shaped something, rather than incinerate began assaulting the fires and putting them out with some kind of spray foam, after a minute nearly all the fires had been quelled and the shape could be seen for it's true form. "Hello up there! Are you ponies in need of assistance?"

Sunny was dumbstruck and also nearing the edge of a one story drop into burnt out remains of a home. "Yes sir! But who are you?"

"I'm a soul in search of justice, a dark knight seeking to protect all of Ponyville's citizens. You can call me, Batman!" The fireman was about to open his mouth to speak but Bruce stopped him. "I know, I know. 'What's a man?' 'You look more like a Batmane.' I've heard it all before."

"Actually, I was going to say that was awesome! Really kick flank!" Sunny gave a emphatic punch at the air to add to his statement but more of his already precarious perch fell through. "Uhh, mind helping us down?"

Wordlessly Bruce procured the grapple from his pouch and Pulled himself up to their level. Without missing a beat he grabbed hold of them both and pulled them even higher through the sixth floor hole he created on his way down. "Do you think you can get to the top floor extraction point from here?"

"Yes but shouldn't you be coming with us? There's nothing left down there, everypony's already been evacuated."

"Sorry but my jobs just getting started. Oh and Sunny-" his adressee's ears perked up, how did he know his name? "- I'll need to speak with your chief once the fire's are out." With that Bruce detached the claw and dove once more into the wrecked building, confounding his audience.

"-come in! Sunny respond! What's happening in there?! Sunny come in!" Crackled the radio.

"This is Sunny, all's fine. Eighty-six the ladder truck, we'll be on the roof for extraction in five minutes."

The chief on the other end was sounding quite confused, "On the roof? Sunny what just happened? You said you were trapped."

"I know your going to say I'm crazy but, I think I was just saved by the Batman I read about in the Equastrian Enquirer."

There was a notable pause on the part of the fire chief, then she responded, "You're damned right you're crazy! Stop wasting our time and get you're lazy flank on that roof pronto!" Sunny had no cause to disagree with that order.

*****

On the ground far from the inferno ponies were still running around like headless chickens, but the brunt of the work was over. Everypony was accounted for, both civilian and firefighter, even the little mule colt was reunited with his inter-racial family. His damage was not too severe, minor smoke inhalation and the trauma of watching all his toys turned to ash but otherwise unharmed.

In the tent the fire chief was busy congratulating her brave underlings on a successful rescue operation, "You did good ponies, real good. It's a shame these folks are loosing everything they own but you got them all out with their most valuable possession, their lives." A round of applause erupted though it was muffled by the fire proof boots on their hooves. "Heck even Sunny Shine got in a save, but what the hay was with that BS story you were telling? You had us all worried."

"It wasn't bull ma'am, we really were saved by Batman! Just ask the kid."

"Oh yeah the kid, you could probably ask him if small furry creatures that live on the moon saved him and he'd say yes, he's so out of it." Instinctively she looked over her shoulder at the family, hoping none of them heard that last remark. "Look Sunny I don't care what you were trying to pull but we're all just glad you made it out safe-"

"Ms. Brimstone! There's another pony emerging from the building!" said one of the ponies operating the radio. And sure enough he walking out the front door, unfazed by the flames or the jets of water being sprayed in his direction. A big black-

"Batman." All the fire fighters looked dumbfounded at the sight, a fully grown pony dressed in a costume like you'd find in an issue of 'Power Ponies' walking, not running out of a burning building. "Alright I take it back, you're not crazy Sunny." All watched as the pony walked his way to the tent and collapsed in a heap.

"Mrmph mrr mrumph hrrrm." He hummed when it became apparent that none of his words were escaping the respirator he removed it and repeated himself. "Sorry, that should be the last of them."

"The last of what?" Sunny asked.

"Last of the bombs, the whole building was riddled with them. Finally finished freezing the last of them." Out from under the cape he produced a sample of said bombs. They were little unassuming things, a cluster of wires jumbling into a lump of clay like substance, this was C4. "You should have the bomb techs examine this to find any clues to the builder's identity, every bomb is unique."

"Thank you but, how on Celestia's green earth did you do any of that?"

"You mean the fire diving? My suit and cape are made of the same stuff your gear is made of and my resolve is made of steel." These were the special modifications Bruce had spent so much time on, making his new suit resistant to anything but a blast furnace. "A friend of mine brought it to my attention I can be a bit over exuberant when it comes to force. I thought I should at least try to save what little I could for your arson investigators. And the way these were spread throughout the building at key points, my guess is our firebug wasn't just trying to bring it down, but bring it down on top of you all."

A somber look covered their faces, most of them were volunteers. Why would anypony target them for their lifesaving work? As he spoke a small light began flashing on the C4 he'd given over followed by a chirping noise, someone was trying to detonate them. "Everypony down!" Ms. Brimstone shouted as she threw herself over the bombs. She awaited the brief instant of pain but it never came, only the sensation of the icy cold bomb underneath her body.

"What the-"

Bruce was the first to help her up, "Sorry, I thought I said already. I froze the bombs with liquid nitrogen, the whole mechanism should be inoperable now. But just in case-" He took back the bomb and ripped out the cluster of wires, "Well that's interesting."

"What is, the pants crapping you just gave us?!" Sunny asked.

"No, but sorry. I mean this detonator, it has a timer and a nominal remote feature. It's so weak that whoever tried this would have to have clear line of sight to set it off." Batman looked around at the fearful crowd standing around, then to the skyline. He could swear he saw some flash of red like a fire move about on a rooftop then disappear. "Don't worry everypony, I'm going to track down whoever did this before they strike again."

Rather than wait any longer Bruce pulled out his grapple and swung off into the night, pulling himself towards the direction of the something that he suspected of this crime. The hunt had begun.

*****

From atop a building far away yet still with a top floor view of the fire a pony watched the show unfold. It was a show of his own design, a conflagration of beautiful dancing lights set to the key of burning ponies. Yet not all was going according to his demented plan, one by one each of the ponies who entered his trap emerged, not a soul lost. What's more the wretched building itself didn't fall as planned, that was upsetting on a personal and professional level.

Had it been something he'd done? Had he miscalculated the amount of explosives necessary to send it crashing down? There was always that possibility yet he was sure, he'd done his paid obligation dutifully without error. Using the binocular googles on his suit he zoomed in on those now outside and 'safe.' They were all he'd expected them to be, hulking brutes too stupid to know when something's on fire you run away. "Run away and cower like the dogs they are!" He screamed to the night.

No, none of them would have had the know-how to disarm his handiwork, there must be something or someone here who doesn't belong. And that someone was a costumed freak waltzing around like he owned the place, a falsehood since soon it would be his employers who owned the ruins of Hooflyn. To top of this injustice he could see in the fool's hooves were his own bombs, sitting there unexploded.

"That's just not right, too bad they don't know about my remote detonator." With gusto he slammed the button backup and eagerly watched to see them all become the pink mist. He waited and waited but nothing happened, further zooming revealed the freak pulling apart his beautiful creation. "So it was you, oh I'm going to enjoy burning you to cinder's bat boy!" As if to taunt his new target he let out a stream of napalm from his flamethrower, lighting up the night sky.

This freak had interfered with both business and pleasure and he was going to kill him for it. But a plan had to be made, a trap to be laid and that would have to wait for the morning. Angrily he engaged the thrusters on his pack and flew off for his hideout, his mind roiling with images of what he was going to do once he won.

Author's Note:

I'm not sure if freezing C4 actually works, I'm mostly basing it off of the segment in Metal Gear Solid 2 on the big shell.

Hope everyone enjoyed part one I'll tr to get the other two parts out ASAP.

Comments

[badninja]

Wierd I saw that this story was listed as having a new chapter in the feed but not on my tracking tab. Good chapter overall and Firefly has no clue on how he is picking a fight with. Cannot wait when Batman sets him straight with a righteous beat down.

[TheDriderPony]

6851357
Same thing happened to me.

Now we get to speculate about this new villain. I'm betting it's a pegasus, with about a 30% chance of having a color scheme based on the Gen 1 pony of the same name. Though I should probably look more into the actual batman villain before assuming too much.

[ultronquake]

6851357 Huh, not sure what's going on with the tracking tab thing. I'll try and look into it when I have time.

And yes the beat-down will be righteous

[ultronquake]

6852474 I'm thinking Pegasus too, though not the same as the gen 1 pony so not to offend fans of that series.

[Arhrark]

I love the scene where Batman rescued the colt and the firefighter. Very "Batman" or Batmane as they said in Ponyville.

[ultronquake]

6861648 Thanks