Batmane, the dark steed

by Guillermo

True justice

Blueblood stood his ground, even as the metal door closed, watching the prisoner. After a few minutes, he started to walk away, stopping at the sound of the stallion's voice.

"Please wait..."

Blueblood stopped and looked at the eastern pony, who had raised his head slightly.

"What do you want?"

"I... I didn't wa-want to sa-say it with hi-him in front of me... bu-but... be-before I am ex-executed... co-could I be allo-allowed to see my son one last time?"

Blueblood scowled at him and approached the stallion again, staring at him through the bars.

"Your son?"

"Yes... ple-please... I want to tell him that... that it was an accident..."

"You killed a pony, you don't do that by accident" Blueblood replied with a serious tone, although the seed of doubt was growing in him.

The pony before him did not look like a ruthless criminal who deserved death. The prisoner lowered his head, looking at the ground, defeated.

"I... my wife and son were starving... I had a very poor harvest... I just wanted enough to feed them while I recovered... but he found me sooner..."

Blueblood was silent, listening intently, and as he listened, he remembered another criminal who had the same tone of regret in his voice.

"We fought... and... I... pushed him too hard... I couldn't imagine that he would break his neck on his cart... I didn't want... I didn't want to kill anypony... "

The stallion sobbed into his bonds, weeping bitterly at the sight of Blueblood, who felt a pang in his heart.

"I'm sure your son knows" he said in an attempt to comfort the eastern pony, who kept crying.

"I just want to see him one last time..." The pony looked up pleadingly at Blueblood. "Please... let me see him... I beg you..."

Blueblood watched him for a few moments before turning and heading for the door, listening as the prisoner began to cry harder. He left the dungeons, being greeted by the two guards, and went up the stairs to return to the rest of the temple, and once there, he began a walk to his room in silence and deep in thought. A part of him didn't want to kill that pony, not after seeing that, at least on the surface, he was remorseful and had a family, but another part of him just as big told him that a criminal could say anything to save himself and that, in addition, he owed it to the League. Why did he care so much? Why should he try to save her life?

A true hero spares the lives of his enemies.

His father's voice, clear as the day he said those words to him, sounded in his head. Blueblood frowned as he walked forward, remembering that day. His father may have told him that, but what did that thought lead him to? He died for a criminal, a criminal his father would not have hesitated for a second to try to help, and he was repaid in death for that kindness. The League, on the other hand, promised him a method that all criminals would pay for, a method of dispensing justice. Why should it bother him that he went through the murders? Wasn't that what he was looking for, just like Ra's said?

Your father... would be ashamed of you.

Cadence's voice came out, reminding him of the main reason he was wary of crossing that line. She was right, his father, and quite possibly his mother too, would be ashamed of him if he agreed to mete out justice through murder. His family had an unbreakable legacy of solidarity, kindness and justice, did he really want to betray those principles? But he was a criminal who killed a pony...was he supposed to save it because maybe, and just maybe...it was an accident?

I swear to you that I won't let any other colt go through the same as me... I won't rest until I accomplish that goal, even if I have to die for it.

This time, he remembered the oath he had sworn to the ghosts of his parents earlier that day, and he remembered that the prisoner he was to kill…had a son. He may have had a deep hatred for criminals, but there was something that surpassed that hatred... the thought of a colt mourning the death of his parents. The criminals and the corrupt also had a family. Blueblood could ignore the guilt he would feel for betraying the legacy of his parents, but what he would never forgive himself for is being responsible for the same trauma he suffered in his foalhood... he couldn't bear to be the Horn Chill from another foal.

Blueblood made a decision, he would not be anypony's executioner, even if it meant being expelled from the League of Shadows. As he approached his room, he thought of the eastern pony's plea, and promised himself that he would fulfill that last wish. Given that during those 4 years he had been Ra's's best student, and had built a bond with him, he hoped to be able to convince him to let his prisoner see his son, and perhaps spare his life in exchange for a year or two in jail as payment for his crime. If he was truly sorry, it would be a just punishment.

When he arrived at his destination, he opened the door to find Karal in the center of the room meditating. The kirin widened his eyes as he heard somepony enter, smiling at his companion and friend, getting up from his spot and approaching Blueblood, who closed the door behind him.

"You're finally back" said Karal with a smile. "How did you do on the test?"

"I'm over it" Blueblood answered, walking past his friend and getting ready to sleep.

Karal looked at the pony in confusion, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"I know you well enough to know there's something else going on. Is something wrong?"

Blueblood stopped and thought to himself if he should tell the Kirin what was going on or not.

"Ra's al Ghul wants me to kill a criminal at my initiation."

"And the problem is...?"

Blueblood looked at Karal in confusion, causing the kirin to sigh.

"Look, I know this might be hard for you, but my family was killed by criminals, so I don't see the problem. Honestly, I thought you would think the same."

"For a moment, I did" Blueblood said after a few moments of silence, looking away from Karal. "I considered killing him."

"And why do you hesitate now?"

"He's sorry, and he confessed to me that it was an accident."

"He is a criminal, Blueblood" Karal replied as he rolled his eyes. "He Obviously he'll say anything to save himself."

"You didn't see him the way I did. He was genuinely sorry, besides, he told me he did it to feed his family… his son."

Karal watched Blueblood for a few moments in silence before narrowing his eyes.

"And how are you sure that he told you the truth?"

"I know when somepony is truly sorry."

"In the hypothetical case that he tells the truth, what do you expect to happen? Do you think Ra's is going to release that murderer just because you asked him to?" Karal said with a frown.

"A repentant murderer with a family. And I don't expect him to release him, I hope he spares his life."

Karal watched his mate for a while before grunting and walking over to his bed.

"Look, do whatever you want, just make sure you don't get me in trouble."

Blueblood watched as Karal blew out the candle beside his bed and lay down, leaving him alone. After a few moments, the unicorn sighed and blew out its own candle as well, preparing to sleep.

---

Blueblood walked quickly through the halls of the temple, heading to the meditation room. The discussion with Karal was still fresh in his mind, he hadn't expected him to react that way, but he tried not to let it bother him. His aunt Celestia had told him a long time ago, you can't force somepony to think the same as you. At the doors were the same guards, who greeted him before opening the doors. Inside, like the day before, Ra's waited in the center, meditating.

"Hello, Mr. Blood, have you made up your mind?" he said as he widened his eyes and smiled.

Blueblood nodded as he walked over, sitting down across from Ra's.

"That's right, master."

"Let's hear it, then."

"I'm not going to kill him."

Ra's smile faltered for a few seconds before recovering.

"I see that you still have doubts, but it's normal the first time you have to deliver justice."

"I have no doubts, Master, I will not kill him. This is not the justice I seek."

This time, Ra's smile disappeared almost completely and his forehead creased slightly.

"Mr. Blood, this is true justice. That's why you came in the first place."

"I came to learn the methods of dispensing justice, not to kill criminals" Blueblood replied confidently. "The pony you showed me yesterday is repentant and has a family he wants to see. I find the death penalty too radical. He deserves a second chance."

Ra's lost his smile completely and looked at his student with a frown.

"Such compassion is something your enemies will not share."

"That's why it's so important, it's what separates me from them."

Ra's was silent for a while before getting to his hooves and walking to the balcony, looking thoughtfully at the mountains.

"I see you're not ready yet. If you were anypony else, Mr. Blood, I'd have you executed right now."

Blueblood tensed and stood up, preparing for anything. That was something that was not expected.

"But I am old, very old, and you are the worthiest pony I have ever met. I had plans for you, Mr. Blood, and I still do, I am not going to let a stroke of conscience ruin all the work I have put into you. Arrest him."

The pony felt something behind him, and turning, he saw two ponies, a unicorn and a kirin, come out of an illusory spell that had previously made them invisible, a skill that Blueblood had not been able to perfect due to his lack of magical prowess. Though instinct told him to fight, reason told him he should wait. They were two fully trained League warriors, and not only did they have those bladed bracelets, they also had swords hanging from their belts. Trying to beat them was not a good idea.

"Take him to the dungeons, he will stay there until he realizes his mistake."

Blueblood glanced at his former master, allowing an inhibitor ring to be placed on his horn and dragged out of there.

---

Karal was beginning to suspect that something had gone wrong. It had been two days since he had seen Blueblood, and when he asked Ra's al Ghul about it, he told him that he was not ready for his initiation and was sent to another of the League's headquarters. That did not convince the kirin at all, that Ra's best student was not ready? Something didn't add up.

During that time, he had tried to convince himself that maybe he had been expelled, but a small part of him, the one that had been influenced by the deductive and suspicious nature of his friend, told him that why would they hide it from him then. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard of any other expelled either, he had never seen them after his expulsion, and although he didn't care before, now that his friend was missing, he couldn't help but see the connections.

Karal entered the great dining room of the temple, seeing the initiates having breakfast at the tables. If he wanted to find out what he had happened to his friend, he would have to start by finding out what happened to the expelled. He grabbed a tray and helped himself to an apple and a glass of orange juice, then sat down at a table with several other initiates, who smiled at him in greeting. The krin bit into his apple and thought for a few moments how he should bring it up, how would Blueblood do it? In the end, he shrugged and decided to do as he would.

"Hey" he said looking at the one next to him, a griffin who turned to look at him. "I've been thinking lately, and I've realized I haven't seen one kicked out of the League after they were, well, kicked out. Do you know anything?"

"No," said the griffon, shaking his head, before pointing to a kirin sitting in front of him. "But my partner knows that he does."

Karal watched the kirin, who swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking.

"Yes, before being his partner I had another one who was expelled."

"You know why?"

"I was told that he managed to sneak into the forbidden section of the library" he said as he took another piece of his breakfast to his mouth.

Karal frowned in confusion, was there a forbidden section? He had never been to the library, he was not very interested in books, he preferred to learn things in the classes given by the League than to investigate them on his own. But it seemed strange to him that they had a forbidden section, especially since the League prides itself on teaching all its secrets to its students.

"A forbidden section? Why?"

"The masters and members of the League say that what is there is too dangerous for an initiate" said the griffin next to him.

Karal nodded as he thought about it, taking another bite of his apple. While it might be true, after Blueblood disappeared, he had a feeling there was something the League of Shadows didn't want an initiate to know. Something of what the kirin said advanced in his mind, causing him to look at him curiously.

"You said you were told that your partner entered that forbidden section, couldn't he have told you in person?"

"No, I didn't see him again."

"Didn't he even go pick up his stuff?"

"A League guard came to collect them for him," the kirin replied with a shrug.

Karal frowned even more, this was suspicious, very suspicious. If he alone had been expelled, why wasn't he allowed to say goodbye and take his things? He remembered that the initiates who entered the league before him had the opportunity to say goodbye and collect their belongings before leaving for one of the League of Shadows headquarters in the country. Why weren't the expelled allowed to do that?

When he finished his breakfast, instead of going to the training room like other days, he went straight to the library, he had a hunch. It was quite large and multi-storied, bookshelves everywhere and little signs indicating the sections and genres of the books in them. After walking for a bit, he came across the so-called forbidden section, it was unmistakable, not only because of the griffin guard guarding the entrance, but because his entrance was a steel gate. Karal walked over, causing the griffin to stare at him and spread its wings.

"I can help?" he said seriously.

"Can't I come read a bit?" Karal said with the happiest and most innocent smile he could muster.

The griffin watched him for a few seconds before lowering his wings, relaxing his posture a bit and speaking less seriously than before.

"Ah, Karal, it's you. What are you doing here? You're usually in the training room and I've never seen you in the library."

"Well, since I'll probably have to take the test next month, I decided to stop by to get some information and better prepare myself."

"You do well" said the griffin with a nod and a small smile. "The librarian will be able to help you with..."

"Actually, I wanted to enter the forbidden section, I'm sure I'll find something that helps me more in there."

That made the griffin frown and shake his head.

"I'm sorry, but initiates are not allowed to enter."

"Not even Ra's al Ghul's second best student and just over a month after being part of the League?"

"Not allowed yet."

"Come on, I just want to prepare well, I want to pass the test successfully and serve the League."

The griffin watched him for a few seconds before sighing and pulling a key out of his robes.

"Okay, I don't think the master has any problem with you coming in here, but you can't take any book out of there, that's forbidden."

"Of course" Karal said with a smile.

The faucet turned and placed the key in the lock, turning it and opening the heavy door. He stepped aside and allowed Karal to enter, looking around him. It was a mostly dark space, he could barely see the silhouettes of the bookshelves. The door slammed shut behind him, and before he could say or do anything, hundreds of torches lit up with green fire, lighting the area with an almost evil aura. The kirin looked around him before starting to walk, noting the names of the sections as he wondered what he should be looking for.

There were several different sections there, and they all had something to do, to a greater or lesser extent, with dark arts, which made him wonder if maybe there wasn't anything weird there, after all, those things would be dangerous for an initiate, especially one with magical ability. Black magic, voodoo, history, necromancy, chaos magic… Karal suddenly stopped and took a few steps back, something had caught his attention, specifically, the history section. Why would that section be banned? And now that he thought about it, of all the classes the League taught their students, he didn't remember anything about his history.

Sensing that he was getting close to something, he wandered into that section and searched for a random book. He took out a dusty old book from the shelf, and dusting off the cover, he saw the name: History of the League of Shadows, 8th-9th centuries anm (after Nightmare Moon). Karal frowned reading the title, why the hell would they hide the history of the order from initiates? Sighing, he opened the book and settled down to read, hoping this would all lead to something.

---

Three days had passed since Blueblood was locked in the dungeons, in the cell in front of the prisoner, who revealed that his name was Golden Wheat, although unlike him, he was not chained to the shackles. Three times a day, at dawn, noon and dusk, Ra's al Ghul went to the cell to try to convince him that the methods of the League of Shadows were necessary to find true justice, but he always failed. Still, the pegasus did not give up, according to him, he had a lot of time to convince him.

It had already been dark for a while, or so he had deduced from Ra's's visit, since down there there were no windows or anything to be able to see the passage of time outside those walls. Blueblood was in the center of his cell, meditating in silence, shuffling various ideas to escape, but he didn't know many. The main problem was that the temple was full of warriors trained for many more years than him. He may have been Ra's al Ghul's best student, but he was still only 4 years in the making.

"Thanks..."

Blueblood opened his eyes and focused on the one who had said that, Golden Wheat, who was still staring at the ground.

"Why?"

"For believing me... even though that has led you to the same fate as me..."

Blueblood opened his mouth to answer but he barely had time, because there was the sound of an explosion right above his head, and for them to have heard it, it must have been very powerful. The two prisoners raised their heads in confusion, and in Golden's case, a little scared.

"What was that?"

Blueblood frowned, still staring at the ceiling.

"I'm not sure, maybe they're attacking the temple."

It was unlikely, he knew. Throughout those 4 years, they had not received a single attack, and those who came to the temple were either members of the League, or aspirants who either somehow found out about the existence of the League, or were contacted as happened with Blueblood in his day. The sound of screaming right at the entrance to the dungeons caught his attention, causing him to approach the bars curiously. After a few minutes, the large door opened, revealing Karal and two unicorns entering the room.

"Karal? What's going on? What are you doing here?" Blueblood asked confused.

The kirin approached the unicorn with a smile on his face.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to save you" he said as he grabbed the keys he had in magic from him and used them to open Blueblood's cell.

"Why? The last time we spoke you didn't seem very happy."

"Well, I don't know if it's something ponies have, but it didn't seem right to me to leave a friend alone, besides... I discovered that the League wasn't as good as it seemed at first" Karal said as he opened the cell and let Blueblood came out.

"What are you talking about?" asked the pony with a raised eyebrow.

Karal was silent for a second, removing the inhibitor ring from his friend before speaking.

"I found out that the League doesn't just kill criminals, like you told me...they are capable of razing entire towns just for being 'unworthy'."

Blueblood frowned at that, looking down at the ground as he thought about that revelation. Now he understood why Ra's had not told him or any other initiate about the League's methods when he first joined them. He waited until they had passed the initiation, the first filter, killed an intelligent being... and then he went on from there.

"We have to get out of here. Not all the warriors will have survived."

Blueblood blinked and stared at Karal in confusion, before realization hit him. Although he didn't approve of his methods, he didn't have time to disagree. As the kirin walked away, the pony watched Golden in the cell, watching them, and when he caught the look on his face, he smiled.

"Go away, I've already caused you enough trouble."

Blueblood stared at him for a few moments, ignoring Karal's call, walking to the door.

"Give me the keys, Karal, we're not going to leave him here."

Karal blinked at that, frowning.

"He's a criminal, no..."

"He's a creature with a life of his own and a family. I'm not going to leave him."

Both friends looked at each other for a few moments before Karal growled and threw the keys at him. Blueblood opened the cell and walked over to Golden to remove the shackles.

"Why? I...your friend is right...I'm a criminal..." Golden said as his shackles and inhibitor ring were removed.

"Because you have a son you have to see."

Golden watched Blueblood wide-eyed, and when he was free, he rubbed his hooves, still in disbelief.

"I... I don't deserve your kindness."

Blueblood nodded, before nodding at him and leaving the cell, following Karal and the two unicorns. Although the kirin did not seem very pleased, he remained silent. Behind the door were the dead bodies of the two guards guarding the entrance, causing the pony to look at his companion, who shrugged.

"They did not expect the betrayal."

Blueblood fell silent and continued on, up the stairs. At the top stood a griffin, a kirin, and two eastern ponies, who nodded at Karal and followed him through the corridors toward the exit.