Batmane, the dark steed

by Guillermo

Arkham Asylum

Luna entered her room after an hour and a half talking to the guests and making sure that Joker and his minions were properly locked up. With a sigh, she stretched, feeling all the weariness, but she still had something to do. The princess suppressed the yawn that she wanted to get out of her and she approached the balcony, looking at the full moon overhead.

"You are the first in centuries, at least that I know of, to leave my sister speechless."

"Where is the Joker?" Batmane said stepping out of the shadows.

"Straight to the point, huh?" Luna said with a small smile, before she completely disappeared. "Joker is locked up in Arkham Asylum, it is more than obvious that he is, as my sister would say, in need of psychiatric help, his henchpony are awaiting a psychological test to see if they will be sent to Arkham or Blackgate."

"The only mental hospital in all of Canterlot now, I don't like it at all."

"Neither do I, but Celestia fully trusts the security of the asylum. Besides, she argues that all of his henchpony are under arrest, which I have to agree with" Luna looked at the stars for a few seconds before sighing. "With any luck, nothing will happen. And going back to other matters, many parents, and sisters, are in your debt tonight" the princess stared at Batmane. "But Rainbow Dash almost died."

"I went as fast as I could, I had no other way to contact."

"That's why I want to give you something, I've been thinking about it lately, and today was what made up my mind."

Luna entered her room again and approached the desk, opening a drawer to take out a small wooden chest, wrapping it in her magic. She brought it over to Batmane and opened it, revealing a small ring inside of it with a small midnight blue gem inside of it.

"This is the ring of the night" Luna said as she held it up for Batmane to see better. "Old times, in times of war, I gave this ring to a champion, a knight in my service, with whom he could send me key messages if necessary, to ask for support, medical help, or inform me of enemy advances. Today, I want to give it to you."

Batmane caught the ring in his magic, studying it.

"How does it work?"

"When you want to send me a message, think of me, the ring will create a mental connection between you and me" Luna didn't need to see his eyes to know that this had made Batmane suspicious, so she smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, that connection is only for the message you want to give me. I won't be able to read your mind, and I won't be able to know your location, it's the maximum trust that somepony can receive."

Batmane nodded, tucking the ring inside his suit. Somepony knocked on the door of her room, causing Luna to stop focusing her attention on the bat, and when she turned back, he was already gone. The princess of the night sighed and walked over to the door, opening it to find Celestia, her face calm, but she could see through her mask her doubt.

"Good evening, Luna, am I interrupting something?"

"No, I was just going to sleep and protect the dream world, why?"

"I just wanted to apologize for my behavior with you. You're right, I can't force you to see Batmane the way I see him, but you can't expect me to see him the way you do, either."

"I don't want that, sister" Luna said with a sigh. "Look, I know we have our differences with Batmane, but I suggest we put those aside between us and deal with him our own way, deal?"

Luna could see that her sister wasn't really satisfied with that, but after giving a sigh, she smiled at her and they both merged into a hug.

---

Celestia walked through the corridors of Arkham, which more than an asylum, seemed like a gothic castle with all the rules, built 50 years ago by Sand Arkham, a Saddle Arabia who had come to the city for a convention on psychology and fell in love with Canterlot , becoming a citizen of Equestria and building the asylum soon after. The princess never thought that she would reopen the place after the accident with it owner.

She walked through the narrow corridors of the psychiatric hospital, stopping before a room filled with several doors, all leading to rooms where therapy or patient interviews could be held. At that moment, there were two guards from the asylum's security in front of one of the rooms, who bowed to Celestia before opening the door and letting her pass. The alicorn entered, seeing a white room without windows, a door on the other side that led to the patient sections, and sitting in front of the only table, was the Joker, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit with the Arkham logo and with their hooves hoofcuffed to the table.

"Your Highness, what a pleasant surprise. Had I known, I would have asked for something more appropriate" he said with a smile, accentuated by his scars.

Celestia sat on the pillow that had been placed for her as there was no suitable chair at her height, and left a folder on the table, Joker's recently created medical record.

"Hello Joker, I guess that's not your real name though."

"Why would you believe that?" answered the clown with a small laugh. "As far as I remember, I don't have another name."

Celestia kept her eyes on Joker before opening her file, currently almost empty, with only his aliases known and his possible disorders, among them, psychopath.

"I must say that your case is really mysterious, I haven't seen somepony with such an unknown past since King Sombra himself. No hoof prints, unrecognizable cutie mark magic signature, and whatever it is that left you like this" Celestia looked at the Joker's white fur and green mane, "managed to seep into your blood and contaminate it enough to make you unrecognizable, but without leaving you with any ill side effects. From what I see here, you didn't exist until recently."

"Technically correct" replied the Joker with a laugh.

"I guess you won't tell me anything about your past, right?"

"And what would be fun about that?"

Celestia held his gaze, even when Joker roared with laughter, closing the folder and setting it aside.

"Okay then let's put your past behind you, do you have the slightest idea what you've done?"

"Animate a party."

Celestia had to suppress the urge to frown, keeping her face calm.

"Why? Why did you do it?"

"I was just having fun, your highness, that's all" the Joker replied with a laugh. "Just a clown doing his job."

The princess carefully observed those green eyes, full of madness, a madness that she had seen before. With a sigh, she got up and walked to the door.

"Have you finished yet, your highness? A pity."

"I've already found out everything I wanted to know" Celestia said as she looked over her shoulder at him. "You are nothing but a madpony, I have seen many like you before. I sincerely hope that you can regain your sanity."

"Oh, your highness, I am not like others, I will do something that none of them achieved... I will go down in history."

Celestia watched the Joker a little longer before opening the cell and leaving him alone. The clown snickered as the door closed. Yes, he was going to go down in history, Canterlot would remember him for centuries.

---

It was close to nightfall, about two hours, but Ointment, an earth pony stallion was just beginning his routine. He was one of the few nurses who had a night shift, but he didn't complain, after his usual place of work was burned to the ground by that crazy clown, he wouldn't mind the new one, it was the only thing that ensured he paid the rent. Still, he did feel a bit oppressed in the new asylum, more than anything, because of his gloomy appearance. As he got out of the taxi he had taken to get there, he saw the immense gothic castle that was Arkham, and despite not being the height of the real Canterlot castle, it was impressive to look at.

There were gargoyles on almost every corner, tall towers that seemed to touch the sky, and huge stained glass windows. The interior was no better, despite attempts to modernize it. For example, the lobby, which despite the addition of a reception desk like any other psychiatric hospital would have, was bloody big, marble stairs leading up to the rest of the structure and various corridors branching off from there, and a large chandelier hung from the ceiling. He greet the receptionist, who was already collecting his things and would soon be replaced by Ointment, shortly after heading down one of the corridors to the locker room area.

There, in front of two lockers, he found two ponies that looked at him, almost seemed not expecting him. Ointment ignored them and headed to his assigned locker, unlocking it with the key he took from his saddlebags, which he slipped inside. He pulled out his uniform, a plain white hospital shirt with the Arkham Asylum logo, and closed the metal door. His gaze fell on the two ponies, a unicorn and a pegasus, who were totally still, nervous, as if they were waiting for something.

"Are you new? I've never seen you before" he said curiously.

They both looked at each other before nodding.

"In that case, don't worry, the good thing about the night shift is that you hardly have to do anything."

Ointment smiled and walked away, leaving the locker room and heading to a break room set up for employees, where Secure Padlock, a unicorn stallion who belonged to Arkham security and was already in his uniform, including a small earpiece in his ear, and was already making coffee. The unicorn saw him enter and smiled at him.

"Hey, how are you doing, Ointment?"

"Still getting used to the night shift, how about you?" he said as he approached the coffee machine.

"Fine, although a little worried about the new patient."

"The Joker?"

"The same" agreed Secure, a little more serious.

"Why? Why is he one of the first psychopaths to come this far? I don't see him as a threat locked up here, you know?"

"I don't know, I've been working in psychiatric hospitals for 14 years, I know how to recognize a psychopath, but he... has something that makes him different from the others."

"The fact that?"

"I don't know, and that's what scares me."

Ointment rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his coffee as he watched Secure.

"I'm sure it's just your imagination. The only thing special about him is that he managed to infiltrate the castle and kidnap a class of foals, nothing more."

Secure pondered the words before sighing and nodding, it wasn't worth worrying too much about. Time passed slowly and they both took their places, Ointment at the reception and the unicorn nearby, strolling through the corridors but coming over from time to time to keep the earth pony company. With less than an hour to go before the sun went down, the unicorn took a call on the earpiece, listening intently and frowning.

"What's happening?" Ointment asked.

"One of the guards has told me that they have seen somepony unauthorized in the patient cells, specifically, near the Joker's. Stay here, I'm going to go see."

"No way, maybe they need medical assistance" said the earth pony as he stood up.

"Do you have studies in medicine?" Secure asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I studied medicine before opting for psychology, I didn't finish my degree but I have my knowledge, and besides, at this time there aren't much more staff and the ones there have more important positions, don't you think?"

"Okay, but you will stay behind me and obey all my orders."

Ointment nodded and followed Secure through the pale corridors of Arkham until they reached the hallway section. A few minutes passed until they turned a corner and saw something that put them on alert, the guards who were watching the Joker's cell were dead, and the door was open. Pulling his crossbow, the unicorn slowly approached, ordering the earth pony to hide behind the corner of the hallway. He inched forward until he was a few meters away, but a pony leaned over the edge, a pegasus pointing a gun at him firmly gripped by one of his wings, and shot at his legs before he could do anything.

Secure cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, crossbow skidding away, and watched with a snarl as the pegasus and a unicorn left the cell. In the distance, Ointment recognized them, they were the same ones who had been in the locker room. Besides them, somepony else came out, the Joker, dressed in his purple suit again, and laughing darkly.

"Oh, what do we have here?" he said as he approached. "Tell me, friend, would you be willing to show me where the cell keys are? My dear assistants had to force the door of my cell, and we don't have time for that."

"Fuck you," Secure growled.

"Guess not" Joker shrugged, holding out a hoof, which made the unicorn give him his submachine gun, and aimed it at his head. "Well, what can I do... but at least I can console myself by popping the piñata, sorry for not doing it with a bat, I don't have one here right now."

As he laughed, Joker fired, blowing Secure's head off and scattering his brains on the ground. Ointment hid himself again, closing his eyes tightly, feeling the tears slide down his cheeks.

"Come out, come out, little pony…I still need to get to the keys…unless you want to be my new piñata."

Ointment's eyes widened, terror freezing him in place. Soon, the Joker poked his head around the corner, grinning widely.

"I found you."

---

Fancy Pants watches the ceiling of her cell, listening to the screams of the patients outside, free. Somepony opened the heavy metal door, drawing his attention, and there, he saw a clown grinning a scarred grin. Joker tucked his hoof into his jacket and tossed him a coin that rolled toward him, stopping just short of his bed.

"There you go, I had a hard time finding it in the lost toys section. I hope you have fun, my dear Fancy, I know you have a lot of potential."

The Joker laughed to himself as he walked away. Fancy stood up, staring at the coin and grasping it in his magic. After a few seconds, he threw it into the air, and when it fell, the subject with his hoof, seeing the burned and black face. Nodding, he headed for the exit, to freedom, to the streets of Canterlot.

---

Joker walked happily through the halls of Arkham, followed by his two assistants who had rescued him according to his plan. He went down the stairs to the basement, heading for the maximum security cells, specifically, the one at the end of a long corridor with the largest and most robust metal door in the entire asylum. Upon arrival, the clown banged hard on the metal three times.

"Knock, knock, room service."

It wasn't long before something banged on the door, driving the two ponies back, who looked at each other nervously.

"Who are you?" said a voice from within.

"Don't you remember me? I got you out of that crazy house, a shame they locked you up again, huh?"

The voice was silent for a while before speaking again.

"You're the clown... I remember you."

"So, my friend, are you willing to work with me?"

It took a few seconds for the voice to respond.

"Yes."

Joker smirked, gesturing for his henchpony to release whatever pony...or whatever...was inside.

Comments

[Roboman3000]

I wonder how Twilight and the others are feeling now?

[Ciphers]

""But it wasn't long before Rainbow Dash died."

wait what, i though Batmane successfully stop Twi from casting that spell
in the last chapter

Just before Twilight finished the spell something caught the attention of the guests,

i don't remember any spell being cast beside Celestia melting spell

[Guillermo]

11197532
Corrected, sorry, I finished writing that at 10 pm, at least here where I live, so I didn't have enough energy to really check if the translator had written it correctly or not. As for the other thing, when Rainbow asked Twilight to kill her to save the foals, and she lit her horn, that's the spell that was interrupted and the one I'm referring to in the section you've highlighted. Thanks for pointing out the bug earlier, by the way, I really appreciate it .