Bruce Wayne, dark knight of Ponyville

by ultronquake

By the Firefly's light: part two

The fires were cold and so was the trail, Bruce had tailed the arsonist to the best of his ability as long as he could but it was to no avail. He only had so many grapple hooks at his disposal while his target had a jet pack with a full tank. In the end he'd rounded a corner disappearing into the black night leaving only the smell of combusted jet-fuel in his wake.

But the chase wasn't a complete wash, in the brief glimpses he got Bruce could make out certain features of his gear. He was wielding a flamethrower, home made by the looks of it, and it was connected by a short hose to a second tank on his back. He looked to be clad in a skin tight black material, sleek and no doubt fire proof. There was one striking thing he saw was at the neckline, a small gap between suit and helmet showed exposed flesh, not fur.

The most distinctive feature or lack thereof was the mask he was wearing, as stated it was plain black with no mouth or pronounced muzzle. It had dull red lenses for the eyes made of compound hexagon shapes, like an insect's, as well as two small antennae for unknown purpose.

While the insight into the weaponry and armor of his opponent was nice it shed no light onto either his identity or his whereabouts. For now pursuit would have to wait, he would instead try a different approach. While there was always the possibility that the criminal was motivated solely by his inner demons it was equally possible something more terrestrial was to blame. So Bruce stood there in front of the shelter that had been set up oh so close to the burnt husk of the apartment, fully costumed, preparing his mind for the arduous task of interviewing survivors for any clues.

'Alright Bruce, remember these ponies are likely still in shock so be respectful and try not to unnecessarily scare them. They're the victims not the cowardly lot of criminals.' He steadied his nerve and rapped his hoof firmly on the first door. After a few moments a mare came to the door, before he could even get a word out she slammed in in his face.

"Help, please help! There's a prowler at the door! I think it's the pony the neighborhood watch signs were saying to look out for!"

"Ma'am I'm not a prowler, I'm here investigating the arson attacks. If you would just answer a few of my questions-"

"You're out of your apple buckin mind if you thing I'm stupid enough to open the door to a strange weirdo like you." Bruce felt tempted to reply with, 'Well you already did once,' but decided to be tactful instead.

"Sorry I disturbed you, have a nice day." As he walked on he could sense her presence up against the door and her eye peering through the peephole. "Well one down, only a couple hundred to go." Sad to say the next few homes fared just as poorly, it seems the first mare had already phoned ahead to warn her neighbors of the 'prowler.' As he rounded the corner Bruce bumped into a familiar face, Sunny Shine, the fire fighter he's rescued the night before.

"Oh hey, It's you! I never got to properly thank you last night Batman, you really saved my flank and if those bombs you diffused went off well..." Sunny now outside of his heavy tan coat was dressed only in a simple cotton shirt with the Ponyville fire district's logo on it. He was a well built stallion, bulging veins and musculature could be seen even thorough his bright yellow fur. "-Thanks, again. So what brings you here? There's not more bombs hidden in this building too?!"

"None that I've seen, the arsonist used the same hiding spots over and over in last night's attempt. I haven't found any in my preliminary searches."

"Then why-"

"*Sigh* I lost him in a chase last night, I have no real way to track him yet. So I'm trying to find him by way of motive, if I could just get anypony to answer a few questions then I might finally make some headway on this case." Bruce was genuinely miffed, he would have no trouble getting information just as himself, the head of Rich enterprises was known as quite the charmer.

"If you're having trouble getting ponies to open the doors and talk you can tag along with me. I'm busy distributing relief supplies, seeing if any elderly or infirm ponies need assistance, that sort of thing. I guarantee you they'll listen if free stuff is involved."

"Thank you Sunny that's very nice of you-"

"Sure sure no problem, if you could just help carry these cases of bottled water and medical supplies then we can get started right away." He motioned to a child's red wagon filled to the brim with all the essentials, the poor little thing's axles were about to give out underneath itself.

Bruce knelt down and picked up two cases and somehow found a way to balance them both on his back. "If it means finding our arsonist then I'm game for playing pack mule."

Sunny gave him a big ol' slap on the back, "That's the spirit!" Unfortunately that spirit sent the water tumbling onto the floor. "Oh, sorry."

True to his prediction with his help ponies were willing to talk to the big scary ponified bat, though getting anything useful out of them was another story. "It's that little punk in apartment Seven-B I tell ya! I see him playing with matches all the time!" "Fire what fire? Everything's fine, I'm just staying here in this awful shack because I feel like it." "Why did this happen to me? Why me? Why me?Whyme?-" They were all wrecks, either in complete denial of the situation or experiencing a mental breakdown.

"Is it always this bad after a fire Sunny?" Bruce asked, by now half his load had been given away to those in need.

"Not always, but some ponies take it worse than others. There's always the agoraphobics, terrified to leave the safety of their homes. It can be very traumatic, Celestia knows it was for me."

"You were in a fire?"

"Yeah, we lost our home, our farm even the pets. Though I'm hardly special, seems like everypony lost something to Tirek, I just count myself lucky I didn't lose my life too. That's why I volunteer for these follow up checks on these ponies, cause I know what their going through."

Bruce let his mind wander back to those awful months when that demon walked free on Equestia's soil. It seemed every other day a report would come in that yet another town had fallen, it's residents either dead or drained of magic. Then it came about that Canterlot fell, the shining capital could not hold it's own, all seemed lost. He cried for an entire day straight for Princess Luna, only stopping once she contacted him in a dream to let him know she was still alive. Then there was the day he finally stepped hoof in Ponyville---

Rather than let himself get pulled in fully by the memories he got back onto the task at hoof. "Who's up next?"

"Hmm, oh, actually it's some ponies we know. You remember that little colt you helped save last night?"

"Sure, poor little guy was clinging on so tight we practically needed a crowbar to get him off you."

"That's the one, I'm sure his folks would be willing to talk to the pony who saved their son's life." Sunny led the way to the door, and knocked, a weary sleep deprived donkey was the one to answer. "Hi Mr. Buro. I'm with the Ponyville fire department, do you mind if we talk for a bit?"

Grogily he shrugged yes, though all the sleep washed from his eyes when he caught sight of the bat standing behind the fireman. "*ULP* What do you people want? We didn't leave like you warned us too and so you burned our homes to the ground. So what now, are you thugs here to finish the job?!"

"Sir? I'm with the fire department, doing checkups on all the victims of last night's fire."

"A likely story. And how do you explain the gorilla you got with you huh?"

"He's the pony who saved both me and you're son from the fifth floor last night."

"The- You're the- Oh Celestia I'm so sorry. I just- I'm-" The poor man was floundering for words to express what he was feeling, but nothing coherent could come out. "You'd better come inside, just try to keep it down, my son's just now gotten to sleep." Sounds of locks unlatching could be heard and the door swung inwardly.

The temporary housing was modest to say the least, with donated furnishings from handmedown stores. There was only one bed for the lot of them and no door to close off the bedroom. "How's he holding up?"

"He's a tough one, but I think he's still scared, I can't blame him though. There's not much of a future left for my son in Ponyville, we may end up sending him to live with his grandmother in Mexicolt. At least there you don't have armed ponies trying to stronghoof you out of your homes."

Bruce had taken a seat on milk crate, one of the only 'chairs' in the room. "You mentioned that before, that ponies were threatening you and you're family. Do you know who it was?"

"No, and it's not just my family, everypony who was in our complex received threats. First though it started with offers, 'We'll buy off your lease if you leave.' 'We'll make it worth you're while."

"So why did you stay?"

"Are you kidding? Leaving Hooflyn is impossible on our wages, I'd rather live in modesty here than on the streets of uptown." Bruce felt a twinge of what he would describe as 'white man's guilt', not quite apt since he was now a dull shade of blue and no longer a human. But the sentiment was the same, an impossibly rich pony in the midst of the impoverished. "Besides I wasn't born yesterday. If an offer seems too good to be true then it's a fair bet it is."

"You looked into these ponies I presume?"

"Each of the real estate companies making the offers were shells, empty offices with a logo on the window. So when us and a few other residents refused to leave then the honey sweetened offers turned to the vinegar of threats."

"Nice metaphor." Sunny added.

"Thanks, first it was subtle stuff. Anonymous letters and phone calls, then they ramped it up. Ponies getting dragged off the streets and beaten, armed stallions walking our kids home from school, fake repair ponies destroying the plumbing."

"How could any of this be happening, I've never heard anything about this from my cop buddies."

"Oh yeah the police, no matter how many times anypony tries reporting this nothing ever happens. All we get are stock responses and canned callbacks telling us to stop wasting taxpayer money." The frustration and desperation was all to real on his face, which made the reality described all the more miserable. "But I suppose none of that really matters anymore. They got what they wanted, nopony's ever going to live in that building again."

There was an awkward silence taking hold over the room, he'd already resigned himself to failure and now had to live with the results, to sift from the ashes. There was little else to learn from him so instead they left the family with supplies and a word from the Batman, "This injustice will not go unnoticed or unpunished."

*****

"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Sunny asked, "Seems pretty far'fetched that not a single word of that could go under the radar."

Bruce was stoic and standing tall now that his burden of relief supplies was gone, "It's plausible. It's been rumored for some time that there are police ponies on the payroll of the mobs. It's not too much of a leap to assume morally corrupt ponies would accept bits to look the other way or bury complaints in bureaucracy."

"But why go to all the trouble over a slum in Hooflyn? Why go so far as to kill everypony inside with a fire?"

"I believe the answer will lie somewhere in the same bureaucracy they try to obscure the facts with." Sunny looked at him with puzzlement, "Even if the fake real estate agencies are just hollow shells, they still exist on paper and paper leaves a damming trail."

"Huh, that sounds kind of anti-climactic, busting crooks with their shoddy accounting work."

"Don't forget the arsonist is still at large, he needs to be caught before he can cause more destruction like last night's."

"Damn straight, say can I be there when you're beating the tar out of that sorry S.O.B?"

"Justice isn't a spectator's sport. Besides, I work alone."

"Hmm, that's a shame. Would sure beat what's on pay-per-view." Sunny shrugged it off, "I just have one more stop, Mr. Lynns. He's a victim from the first fire here in Hooflyn, poor bastard's burned across his whole body, doctors say it's so bad his feathers will never grow back. Me and some other's in the building stop by to take care of him."

"I really don't-"

"It'll only take but a moment, plus he loves meeting new ponies." Reluctantly Bruce agreed, Sunny had helped him get some vital information, a fey moments more couldn't hurt.

The interior of Mr. Lynns' apartment was barren, even more so than the Buro's. One one end was a dresser with a lonely ash tray filled with remains of cigarettes, on the other was a hospital bed and Lynns himself. He was a pathetic looking creature, fur and feathers burned to a crisp leaving only hardened pink leather in it's place. He was in a full body cast and in traction as well, only his eyes were fully exposed the rest of his face left bandaged in a featureless mask of cotton.

"W-who's there?" the crippled pony asked.

"It's just me Garfield, How'ya doing today?"

"Sunny, my good- friend. I'm doing poorly. The tenants upstairs make so much noise when they move, you think there's a her of cattle up there."

"There is a herd of cattle, and sheep and goats and alpaca and zebra's and-" Sunny kept listing off every conceivable quadruped that could be inhabiting the building for some time. Bruce would have found it amusing but something in the room was unsettling to him, an odor. As he searched around for it's source his hoof landed on a particularly squeaky floorboard."

"What was that? Is there somepony else here?!" With his neck bound in place he couldn't see the four foot superhero pony in his living room.

"Oh it's just-" Sunny stopped when he saw Batman placing a hoof to his lips, a cold serious look in his eyes. "-It's just Mooriella's calf's running down the hall again. I'll be sure to tell them to keep it down for you." Bruce carefully left the room without making another sound while he let Sunny finish helping him.

After a few minutes he emerged to find Batman fiddling about with some electronic do-dad he didn't recognize. "Mind telling me why it was necessary for me to lie to a poor disabled pony?"

"Sunny, what do you know about this Mr. Lynns?"

"Garfield? Well he doesn't talk much, and from what his medical charts say he won't be doing any moving anytime soon either. "

"Does he smoke?"

"Huh? Well yeah, he always has me light up a cigarette and place it in his mouth for him. Poor guy."

"If he's an invalid, then why was there a smoldering cigarette in the ash tray on the far end of the room? And did you smell it? The odd petroleum smell."

"No way Batman, that's BS. He's in a full body cast, the doctors said he cant be moved or-"

"The doctors or his medical charts?"

"What?"

"Did you speak with any real doctors? Because there's no way in hell a real doctor would leave a pony who's sustained third degree burns over his entire body to be released from hospital with no supervision or home care. I present that this Lynns if that's his real name is not a victim but the arsonist himself. I present that he's been hiding in plain sight with a central base right among his targets."

Sunny was dumbfounded, more so by the prospect that he'd been aiding and abetting the criminal the whole time. "So what do we do now? Call the cops?"

"Two problems with that. One, if what Mr. Buro said is true then it would get buried like the rest. I could talk directly with commissioner Oats but I fear the arsonist would strike before then."

"And the other thing?"

"I cant prove it-" Bruce took the piece of equipment he was fiddling with and placed it above the sill of the door. "-Yet. These sensors will alert me when he leaves the room."

"And then what? You'll fight him in the building full of his victims?!"

"No, I have a plan to draw him out and deal with him in an isolated location. Do you know any places like that around here?"

"There's a metal foundry, been abandoned for years."

"I'll be there and let everypony know that. Make sure he knows I'm the one who diffused his bombs last night too, you'll lure him there and I'll incapacitate him." Bruce made his was to the nearest window and before leaping out he had one more thing to say. "Sunny, you said you wanted to be there?"

"Yeah."

"Bring a fire truck with you." And with that he disappeared into the fresh night, off to prepare the arena for their deadly game.

Author's Note:

This chapters for anyone who's had to go door to door in their lives, be it for selling overpriced candy bars for school, taking part in ministerial work or public service campaigns. Everyone who has done it knows it's difficult work.

Sorry for this taking longer than expected, I've been crazy busy with work plus having to search for a new car. Thankfully that's done now and hopefully this and the next ark will be done in February.

Comments

[badninja]

So now Bruce begins the path to becoming the worlds greatest dectective.

[ultronquake]

6894908 How did the detective work seem to you? I'm open to criticism.

[badninja]

6894940

It felt good. He is just starting out and has yet to fall into the whole paranoid about everypony, that Batman usually falls into. He needs time the build up his game. Have Bruce work on his skill by occasionally getting something right by guessing and by messing up.

The big deal with Batman is that when crazy stuff is happening for the Justice League they call him because they know he can figure it out. For all his planning is based off his observation skills and his dectective work.

[ultronquake]

6895170 Good points, I'll keep them in mind.

[Smug Anime Girl]

"Sunny, you said you wanted to be there?"
"Yeah."
"Bring a fire truck with you."

[ultronquake]

6895278 Fire truck OP plz nerf

[Smug Anime Girl]

6895352 pfft, lol.

[Arhrark]

Interresting chapter.
Bruce is beginning really nicely his crusade. Some versions are more violent and Bruce wants results fast. But here, it seems the life in Equestria make him more subtle.
I think it is a good choice according to the previous story.

[ultronquake]

6903306 Yeah I'm trying to further that concept here, my reasoning would be having a family around him growing up helped keep him balanced. Plus the effects of living in the world of magical rainbow ponies might have something to do with it.

[Arhrark]

6903729

Yeah ! After all, one touch of magic was enough to wipe out 1000 years of hatred from Luna.
But I prefere the new "awesome" weapon of Batman : "The speech about Justice !".