The Dark Knight Triumphs

by TheClownPrinceofCrime

Chapter 19: The Dark Knight Returns

IN PONYVILLE

All the surviving ponies in the town were locked up in cages. Every pegasus, earth pony, and unicorn—young and old, filly, colt, mare, and stallion—were in chains. The gargoyles were guarding every cage in the town whereas Tirek and Clavicle were facing the magical cage that held Twilight and her friends. The power-hungry centaur grinned hungrily at the weakened protectors of Equestria.

“Such a pity to see you in this helpless state of yours, Princess Twilight. Fortunately for me, I have your powerful magic at my disposal.” Tirek taunted. Twilight and her friends were firmly glaring at Tirek in silence. Tirek then generated three orange orbs that had all three pony races in each one.

“How does it feel knowing that soon every pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony will bow to my will, and that there is nothing you can do to stop it?” Tirek further boasted, slamming the orbs together as glass.

“You will not prevail, Tirek.” Twilight growled.

“Ha! A bold claim from a young princess!” Tirek scoffed. “Perhaps you haven’t heard of how I managed to destroy Queen Chrysalis and her weakling army in her own hive! Clavicle here can attest to how easy it was to wipe out their useless existence.”

Twilight and her friends gasped in horror at the revelation. Clavicle wickedly cackled at their horrified reaction. “Yessss, Chrysalis’s cries of anguish were music to my ears.” he grinned.

“The princesses will defeat you, muscle head! They’re coming for you!” Rainbow Dash defied.

“Lord Tirek, we got the princesses and Shining Armor!” a gargoyle shouted. Five gargoyles descended from the sky and revealed the Royal Sisters and Shining in chains. The ponies looked on in shock as they witnessed their rulers being brought before the centaur.

“You were saying, Rainbow Dash?” Tirek smirked. Rainbow was speechless as her last ray of hope was vanquished before her eyes.

Tirek then angrily faced his own gargoyle henchmen. “What took you so long? I expected you five to capture these simple ponies immediately!”

“My apologies, my lord. The alicorns were exceedingly resistant to our commands to fully surrender themselves to us. They were also a heavy challenge to overcome, so I had to use these bracelets on their horns to keep their magic at bay,” one gargoyle replied, pointing to the bracelets on their horns.

Tirek then angrily punched his troop in the face. “YOU THOUGHTLESS IMBECILE!! I need their magic NOW!! Once those bracelets are taken off, it will take roughly half an hour for their magic to be fully restored!!” he berated.

“Oh!! S-s-sorry, my liege! I wasn’t thinking right! I was in a rush when I was fighting them! I was just trying to—!” his head got blasted off before he could finish his sentence. His headless body fell down and went limp.

Tirek’s orange orb between his large horns disappeared once his anger died down. Then he afforded himself a chuckle as he faced the Royal Sisters. “No matter how long it takes for me to take every bit of magic in Equestria, your humiliation is inevitable. How does it feel to be powerless to save all your precious subjects from death and annihilation?”

“You cannot win, Tirek! You can attack us, and we may fall! But Equestria will still stand, united in friendship! And we won’t stop until we defeat you no matter how many ponies you take down!” Celestia spoke defiantly.

Tirek laughed heartily in amusement. “You have truly deluded yourself, haven’t you? See, your pride and self-righteousness have led you right at my mercy! You think you can actually stand up against my might and save your pathetic friends? Delusions of grandeur at its finest. That alone tells me that you all are nothing more than arrogant fools who couldn’t lead a pony in poverty, let alone a little filly. Pathetic...” he contemptuously snorted.

“You’re one to talk, fiend.” hissed Luna.

Tirek sent a wave of magic at her muzzle to silence her. “Silence! You will not speak unless spoken to!” he yelled.

Then he turned his attention to the royal widower. “What do you know? The great prince Shining Armor also caught in my net! It is a real shame your wife couldn’t be here today. I would’ve loved to see her face... and to have my fun with her.” Tirek lustfully smirked.

Shining gritted his teeth in seething anger. “Do NOT speak of her like that again!”

“What’s the matter, Shining Armor? Jealous that her magic would have been more delicious and satisfying than yours? Oh wait, I almost forgot... she’s dead. Hahahahaha!!” Tirek taunted.

Shining angrily ignited his horn to shoot at the centaur, but a gargoyle punched him in the stomach and held him to the ground. “Shining, NO!! LEAVE HIM ALONE!!” Twilight shouted with tears on her eyes.

“When the blood runs hot, a stallion forgets his actions have consequences. Bravery and resilience are one thing, but foolishness and impulsiveness are completely different. You have miserably failed to submit to the former while you systematically succumbed to the latter, Prince Shinning.” Tirek grinned.

“Stop! You don’t know anything about him! He is my brother who made countless sacrifices to protect Equestria! So have Celestia and Luna!” Twilight defended. Bane stood by as he listened to their discourse and thought on what was being shared from both sides.

“Is that so, Princess Twilight? If your superiors have indeed made tremendous progress in keeping Equestria in one piece, then you wouldn’t be in your cages, would you? Have they ever considered the time to do something productive besides attending to their selfish desires—besides getting somepony else to do work for them? Hm?” Tirek questioned.

Dead silence filled the area. Twilight hoped to see their bright spirits of courage still ignited. However, the Royal Sisters and Shining couldn’t say a word of defense for themselves.

Relishing their looks of guilt and defeat, Tirek motioned his two other gargoyles to bring Shining to him. Once they did so and bent his head to Tirek, the latter quickly drained all his magic while the unicorn winced in pain. After Tirek was finished draining his magic, Shining fell down on the ground weakened.

“Perhaps another direct measure is required to show you how failure can kill you all.” Tirek said, igniting his horns to execute Shining Armor.

“NOO!! PLEASE!! STOP!!” Twilight begged. “Brother, no...” she cried with tears soaking her eyes.

Suddenly, gunshots were heard. Two gargoyles that held Shining had their heads shot through with blood pouring on the dry ground. They fell down dead. Tirek swiftly turned his head to see an approaching army of... bipedal creatures? They got closer and closer on top of a hill over Ponyville until they could be seen by everypony down below. It was an army of SWAT officers and police officers with Commissioner Gordon at their head. Bane beheld them in deep surprise as he immediately recognized them.

However, two more figures appeared. Selina in her cat-outfit and with her whip slid down the hill with Robin by her side. Once they landed at the bottom of the hill, the all-too-familiar bat-pod sped down hill and passed his two allies.

The third figure stopped his bat-pod and jumped right out. He landed in front of everypony who were completely dumbfounded and amazed. The gargoyles and Clavicle were very puzzled whereas Twilight and her friends were amazed to see him return after so long.

“IT’S... IT’S YOU!! YOU CAME BACK!!” Twilight rejoiced.

“No... that cannot be...” Bane muttered, shocked beyond imagination. His worst enemy—the MAIN source of hatred in his life—is still alive? Here? He even spotted Thorax among the police army.

The figure surrounded his armored body with his black cape and fiercely glared at the centaur. “Who in the name of Tartarus are you?!” Tirek demanded.

“I’m Batman.” he said.

Author's Note:

Annnnnndddd... cue the soundtrack from The Dark Knight Rises!!

My boy is BACK!!! Oh, and don’t worry, Fluttershy will reappear in the next chapter. Stay tuned!

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

Suggestion, if Batman and Bane are to duel again, should Tirek lend Bane some of his powers to be more stronger?

[TheClownPrinceofCrime]

10175025
Yes, he will gain some magical powers...from someone else. 😉

[ChazMLPFIM]

Nice chapter. I'm glad Batman has arrived and has come to save the day.

[TheClownPrinceofCrime]

10175058
Indeed.

[MDCommissioner]

"By the way, Talia's dead."

I just want that. X3

...also, where's Fluttershy in all this?

[ChazMLPFIM]

10175082
I have a feeling in the next chapter; the showdown is about to begin. But I'm very concern about Thorax learning the truth about Bane.

[IllusionedDrawer64]

Villains: “Disperse! Disperse or be destroyed upon!”
Heroes: “There is going to be only forces of good in this town!”

[Vakama95096]

Oh yeah...! Hell yeah! HE'S BACK! BATMAN HAS RETURNED!!!!!