It was a night like any other in Canterlot, a quiet night, silence broken only by the sounds of ponies having a bit too much cider after attending one of the many parties thrown almost every night. The darkness kept at bay by the gentle light radiating from Lunas moon, and the soft glow of the streetlights that dotted the streets.
“It’s such a shame that barely anypony gets to see the city at night; it truly is a sight to behold.” Fancy Pants thought to himself as he walked home from a party in the palace gardens, a party that many in Canterlot would definitely remember due to the Elements of Harmony and their.. peculiar ways. Especially the antics of one purple unicorn, whose dancing was so atrocious that many ponies attending were rushed to the emergency room for corrective eye surgery. Although apart from what was possibly the strangest party he had ever attended, the white stallion had something else on his mind, a question he was going to ask the mare that he loved. Yes, tonight was going to be the night.
“You look like you’re thinking about something dear” The mare at his side remarked
“Oh it’s nothing Fleur, just admiring the beauty of the city at night. Of course it all pales in comparison to the wonderful mare with me.” As he said this Fancy Pants drew closer to Fleur, their sides almost rubbing together as they walked. Fleur blushed, visible even through her white coat. Still even with the added heat that rushed throughout her, she couldn’t help but shiver slightly from the cold autumn air. Seeing this Fancy Pants put a hoof around her side, and she nuzzled into him slightly, grateful for the added warmth his leg was giving her.
“Although I guess now that you mention it there is something I wanted to ask you Fleur” Fancy Pants said as the couple drew to a stop. “These last 12 months with you have been the best of my life” Fancy Pants fumbled through his waistcoat pocket. “I, I want that feeling to last forever.” Shaking with nervousness, he produced a small box containing a necklace in the form of three Fleur-de-lis. “Fleur, will you marry me?”
Tears welled in the corners of Fleurs eyes, her knees trembled, threatening to give in at any moment. In a voice only slightly more audible than a whisper, she managed to say. “O- of course I w-will” As she quickly embraced him. Returning the hug, Fancy put the necklace on her, and whispered in her ear.
“I’m the luckiest stallion in Equestria, I really, really am”
Releasing their hold, the couple simply stared deeply into each others eyes, both lost in a world of blissful joy.
A world that was about to come crashing down.
Footsteps signaled the approach of another pony. A pony in a rush by the sound of it.
“Aw aint that sweet? Two lovebirds out at night, you know the streets aren’t always safe at this time”
Fancy Pants turned around to see a light brown earth pony stallion wearing a dirty grey jacket standing a few meters away, his face cloaked in darkness. His mane was barely visible, being as black as ebony. Even so Fancy could make out that he was wearing a mask of some kind, it almost resembled a bat. What did draw his attention though was the stallions’ outstretched hoof, holding a small gun.
The stranger spoke very softly.
“I want everything you got on ya, or you and your lady friend will have an early trip to the city morgue”
Fancy Pants froze, he had never encountered such danger before. He wanted to put on a brave face for his beloved Fleur, but try as he might he stood rooted to the spot, his face contorted in a look of unrestrained horror.
The stranger spoke up again.
“That’s the problem with you rich types, ya act like you’re on top of the world, but ya just sniveling babies when faced with real danger. Say that’s a pretty mare ya got there. Hey babes, ditch this loser and get with a real pony, this gun aint the only heat I’m packing” Giving Fleur a lecherous stare up and down her body, finally resting his eyes on her flank.
Fancy Pants knew he shouldn’t stand for this, but the idea of going against this pony scared him, he wanted to defend his lady’s honour, but try as he might he couldn’t will himself to move. Suddenly Fleur spoke up.
“As if I’d ever go off with scum like you” There was a fierce look in her eyes that Fancy Pants had never seen before.
“Maybe you’ll change ya mind if I take care of you’re little boyfriend here, huh baby doll” The stranger pointed his weapon at Fancy Pants.
In that moment Fancy saw his life flash before his eyes, he then shut them tightly, knowing that his end was near.
“NOOO!” Screamed Fleur, as a gunshot rang through the air.
A soft thud, caused Fancy Pants to open his eyes. He was still alive! It was only then though, that he noticed the slender white mare laying on the ground in front of him, a pool of red forming around her.
“Fleur.. n-n-no” Fancy Pants gasped as tears came to his eyes.
“Stupid bitch, took a bullet for a ya.” The stallion stepped forward into the light, Fancy Pants could now clearly see the bat mask he was wearing, although everything was hazy as he viewed them through his watering eyes. The stallion bent down and snatched the necklace from Fleurs neck, quickly stuffing it into his jacket pocket.
“I should kill you right now, but judging from the expression on your face, you’d suffer more if I just left you alive. You can live the rest of ya life, knowing that your little girlfriend died, because you were too much of a mare to try and stop me” The stallion gave Fancy Pants a wicked grin, before turning around and disappearing into the night.
Fancy Pants slumped to the ground. In a matter of minutes his perfect day, had become his worst nightmare. He rocked gently back and forth, desperately hoping to wake up from this horrible dream, and yet, no relief came. All he could do was sit there, and feel his life crumble around him.
The Captain of the Guards, Shining Armour, entered the room, holding two cups of coffee, the steam rising from them visible in the cold air. This was going to be a tough one, Fancy Pants just lost his mare, Shining could understand how traumatizing it must be to see your love gunned down like that. The very idea made him think of Cadance, and how he would feel if anything happened to her. After setting them down of the table, he looked the stallion in front of him.
“Hey there, I know this must be rough on you, but if you have any information on the guy who did this, It could help us greatly in catching him” Shining was trying his hardest to sound as friendly as possible. Experience taught him that ponies were much more likely to help, and felt more comfortable when they saw him as a friend, and not just a guard.
Fancy just sat there, his eyes fixated on the table in front of him, his face blank. Shining knew this was the worst possible state for a pony to be in, he’d seen too many ponies that never recovered from extreme shock, and he wasn’t about to let another one fall into eternal despair.
“Look buddy, I know this must be really difficult, but I want to catch the scum who’s responsible just as badly as you do.”
For the first time, Fancy lifted his head to look Shining right in the eyes.
“Then arrest me officer.. I’m responsible, I could’ve acted, I could’ve- I could’ve done something. Now Fleurs gone, all because I didn’t have the courage.”
Shining had heard this story before; it was quite common for survivors to blame themselves. It never got any easier to deal with though.
“Hey don’t talk like that, there was nothing you could’ve done. It wasn’t your fault, it was his, and his alone” Shining placed a hoof on his shoulder, giving a slight, reassuring squeeze.
Fancy gave him the same expressionless stare, although now Shining could see how much pain there was in his eyes.
“You weren’t there, she- she took a bullet for me. B-but, even when he had the gun pointed at her, I just couldn’t do anything. I was terrified I was more concerned with staying alive”
At this point Fancy started to cry, softly and first, but gradually getting louder. In between sobs he wailed
“She was going to marry me!”
Shining couldn’t take it, the sight of this grown stallion, completely broken, tore at his heart. He wrapped Fancy in a tight hug, while Fancy cried deeply into his shoulder. Shining let him get it all out, in these situations, the victims need to be shown the upmost care and respect. After around 10 minutes, Fancy started to calm down. He took several deep breaths before speaking.
“Th-thank you sir, I- I just can’t believe she’s gone, that- that everything’s changed.”
“It’s alright Fancy, and please, just call me Shining. Now, if you don’t mind I’ve got a few questions about the stallion……”
That’s all I got written for the first chapter guys. Uh I may as well say a few words about this fic, and why I’m writing it. I guess the main reason is I fucking love Batman. Some other reasons would be, I like Friendship is Magic, not to the extent of Batman, but to the extent where I thought I’d write a fanfic for it. This is my very first fanfic as well, so any comments/praise/criticisms/tips would be greatly appreciated. Although it’d be nice if it were all praise.
I know Batmane isn’t in this here first chapter, but I want to set up the character of Fancy Pants first, and what drives him to become Batmane, if things go well we’ll see the pony incarnation of our favourite Bat kicking ass in a few chapters.
It was two in the morning when Shining Armour finally crawled into bed. He was rather surprised when he found the mare in it was still awake.
“Tough day at work dear?”
“Yeah, sorry for not calling home, Cadance. Pretty grim case I had to work on.” Shining Armour looked down as he said this, barely concealing the sadness in his eyes. Seeing this, Cadance sat up to embrace her stallion. With her powers of love she could see when someone was in need of it, especially when that someone was her coltfriend. Shining affectionately returned the gesture, but something was strange, he held her with tightness that she was unaccustomed to, as if he didn’t want to let go.
After several minutes of simply holding one another Cadance broke the silence.
“Is there something on your mind hon’?” She asked as she pushed him away slightly to look at him. A look of hesitation passed over Shinings face, as though he were having an internal argument.
“Well Cadance, it’s just... Tonight, Fleur de Lis, the famous model, you know the one? Tonight she was killed while walking home with her boyfriend, Fancy Pants.” Cadance let out an audible gasp, she had met Fleur before, and they were good enough friends for the news to be a shock to her.
“Did you catch the criminal responsible? Did you talk to Fancy Pants? He must be beside himself with grief! In the morning we shou-.“ Shining raised a hoof to cut her off.
“Let me finish babe, we didn’t catch the guy, it was dark, and he was wearing a mask, Fancy couldn’t even see a cutie mark. Not that he was really in the mood for talking mind you. Anyway, the reason I bought this up was, after seeing how distraught Fancy was after what happened, I started thinking about if I were in that situation, how I would deal with losing you” Shining looked away momentarily, as if to compose himself. “I just couldn’t imagine being happy in a world without you. I don’t know if you, or I will be around to see tomorrow, so I want to make the most of our time we have together. What I guess I’m trying to say is..”
Cadances world froze, she knew what was coming. And she already knew what she was going to say. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, will you marry me?” Shining was answered with a kiss that seemed to last forever as he and his lover were both lost in each other.
As they drew away, neither one of them wanting to break their gaze away from their lover, Cadance uttered the four greatest words Shining had ever heard.
“Of course I will”
“Huh? Where am I? This, this is the street me and Fleur were walking down.. That means… That means she’s still here!”
Fancy Pants tried to turn to his side, only to find he had no control over his body.
“You’re being awfully quiet tonight Fancy, there’s really nothing you want to say to this absolutely beautiful mare walking with you?” Fleur spoke with a seductive purr.
“Of course there is darling, I had the worst dream tha- Why can’t I say anything? Why can’t I speak?! Fleur please hear me! I’m here!” Fancy Pants panicked, yelling and screaming to no avail.
A blood curdling screech rang out behind him, Fancy’s body turned to see a pony standing in the darkness behind him. Only something was wrong, this pony’s face was contorted and twisted, taking the shape of a crude, hellish bat. His glowing red eyes locking Fancy into place, staring right into his soul.
“Aw aint that sweet? Two lovebirds out at night, you know the streets aren’t always safe at this time” The bat-stallion spoke with a chuckle, his voice distorted.
“It- its him, he’s the one! WHY CANT I MOVE!? WHY CANT I SAVE HER!?”
*BANG*
“NOO, FLEUR NO!”
“You can live the rest of ya life, knowing that your little girlfriend died, because you were too much of a mare to try and stop me” The stallion sneered, and let out a demonic laugh.
“Why Fancy?.. Why couldn’t you save me?..” Fleur gasped through bloody breaths. “Why….?”
Fancy Pants awoke with a jolt, sweating profusely. “She’s really gone. He’s still out there. I couldn’t save her” Fancy cried deeply into his hooves, his forelegs still stained with the tears of yesterday.
After what seemed like hours, Fancy just couldn’t cry anymore. He had no tears for now, and in some ways this state was even worse than the constant crying. In the week since the incident, Fancy had been alternating between crying non stop, and walking around his house in a zombie like trance, devoid of all though and emotion, except those relating to his beloved. The only time he had gone outside was to attend the funeral. It was a small event.
Despite Fleur being famous within Canterlot, not many bothered to show up. That was the thing about living with high society. When you stop to look back, you realize just how few of them are really your friends.
“Parasites, they take and they take and they take… And when you have you have nothing left to give, when they’ve sucked you dry, they leave.” Fancy Pants gazed out the window, staring at Celestia’s sun, rising across the horizon, slowly bringing the dark city below him to life. As the shadows fled to the darkest corners, Fancy couldn’t help but visualize the scum of the city, ponies who murdered and stole, slinking back into their dark and dreary dens. In his minds eye, he imagined a foul bat-stallion lurking out there somewhere. The mere thought made his blood run cold.
“This city has two sides, when the sun is out, it becomes a paradise on earth, nopony suffers here. Yet at night, it takes on a new form, all the imperfections are revealed under the Lunar light. The cracks show, and out of them crawl the beasts that we all want to ignore. Can’t believe that this is the place Fleur loved so dearly. Obviously the city didn’t return her affection. ”
The thought of Fleur brought a fresh wave of tears to Fancy Pants’ eyes. He couldn’t stay in Canterlot, not after seeing its dark side. A dark side not even the princesses could banish. Undercover of darkness he would leave. But for now he sat broken and crying, gazing upon the city he had once loved. As he wallowed in sadness and regret, he could hear the bat-stallion laughing, that horrible, evil laugh, mocking him for his weakness.
To be continued, in the next exciting issue of Batmane!
~Some words from the author. So here’s chapter two of BatmaneBegins, it’s a little on the short side sorry, but I promise a lot of things will happen in Fancy Pant’s life soon. Its actually quite a challenge trying to write this story because im getting scared of disappointing the 15 people that favourited this >.> And I also have to fight my natural tendency to procrastinate. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter, and remember to leave a comment below letting me know what you thought of the story. Oh by the way, I will be diverting from show canon slightly (Well even more than I already have), but I will try to follow it as best as my story allows.
It was a regular night in The Beakshine tavern. Located in the small village of Hawker on the griffon side of the border between Equestria and The Griffon Empire, The Beakshine saw many customers come and go. Most of them were griffons looking to escape over to the Equestrian side of the border. The few ponies that came through were either tourists or ponies of the unsavoury type. The former passed through quickly, usually not stopping to partake in services The Beakshine offered. The latter generally stayed, joining up with griffon bandits and going off to terrorize small villages out in the countryside.
It was a lawless place, being too close to the border for either side to keep an active presence, lest it be interpreted as an invasion force. As such honest establishments were hard to come by, which is what made The Beakshine so remarkable. Although while the tavern was an honest business, its customers were anything but, Beakshine, the owner of the tavern had made a deal with some of the big bandit bands in the area, they would leave his business and the village of Hawker alone, and in return he would provide them with all the cheap booze they wanted. It wasn’t much of a living, but he managed to get by, and because of the protection he gave them, he was well loved by most of Hawker.
A little known fact about The Beakshine was that it offered rooms for ponies and griffons alike to rent out, and stay for a while. Though because of the nature of Hawker and its heavy bandit presence, most opted to wait until they were further into griffon or pony territory to find shelter. The few that decided to stay for the night often found that they could not sleep, as bandits and all the untrustworthy sorts drank late into the night and into the small hours of the morning, laughing at stories of atrocities committed and singing songs that would make even the most well worn whore flush red with embarrassment.
It was on one of these nights that Beakshine couldn’t help but wonder about one of his patrons that had been staying for just over a month. As a bartender he learnt over the years not to pry in his customers business, though occasionally one so odd would show up, that it pushed his control to the limit. The customer in question was a pony, that alone making him a rare sight in those parts. From what Beakshine could see under the dirty brown cloak that the stallion constantly wore, he had a white coat, almost stained beyond recognition, and a blue mane that had forgotten the feel of a comb long ago. The stallion also never showed his eyes, always keeping them hidden under that cloak of his, that coupled his large build, would have made him very intimidating, were it not for the fact that he was constantly drunk off his flank. Even stranger was that he fit neither the tourist nor runaway criminal profile as most ponies coming through would. He’d clearly shown no desire to progress further into the Empire. In fact the only desire he’d ever shown was for alcohol and sleep. And judging by what Beakshine could hear at night (Not that he was eavesdropping of course), the stallion had a strange longing for Fleur de Lis flowers, which hadn’t been seen in griffon lands for well over a century.
“Poor guy must be a nut” Thought Beakshine “Still he seems to have no shortage of bits. Don’t know many crazy people as loaded as him, not around here anyway”
While Beakshine was debating whether to strike up conversation with the mysterious stallion, a group of griffons entered the tavern, almost kicking the door down. Beakshot shot them a look and was on the verge of kicking them out of his bar, but then he saw their mark. Branded onto each griffons flank was a jagged circle, with three talons in the centre of it. This was the mark of the Shadowclaws, a new gang that had quickly gained a reputation around the border for their brutality, especially when dealing with ponies. It was rumored that to enter the Shadowclaws you had to prove yourself by torturing a pony til they begged for death. No doubt the majority of them were psychos. Even more worrying was the fact that the Shadowclaws were one of the few gangs that didn’t have an agreement with The Beakshine. Normally this wouldn’t be much of a problem, since threat of retaliation from other gangs would be all The Beakshine needed to stay safe, but the Shadowclaws were different, a new breed. They had other bandits scared, you could see it easily just by surveying the ones that were sitting in The Beakshine at that moment. The only one unfazed by the Shadowclaws arrival was the stallion, though he probably wasn’t conscious of anything happening around him.
The griffon at the head of the group of Shadowclaws sauntered up to the counter.
“Give us a barrel of your best ale, price isn’t an issue” He tossed a small bag of bits onto the counter. Beakshine couldn’t help but notice the bloodstains on the pouch.
Beakshine gulped “Right away good sir” And he set off into the cellar to retrieve the barrel.
An eerie silence fell over The Beakshine, a rare occurrence. No one wanted to say anything lest it set off the Shadowclaws.
Finally one of the Shadowclaws breaks the silence.
“So, this is The Beakshine? Bit of a shithole isn’t it?” The comment sets off a raucous laugh among his companions, and a wave of nervous laughter across the bar.
Scanning the bars occupants the Shadowclaw spotted a pair of ponies, a Unicorn mare, and a Pegasus stallion. He made his way over to the pair, before sitting down and putting his wing around the mare.
“You know, we don’t really appreciate ponies around these parts” A smile growing across his face. “Well actually we do. Your cries are the most fun to listen to”
The mare was visibly struggling, but she wasn’t strong enough to break free now that the griffon had an arm around her as well. The griffon traced down her chest with a dirty claw.
“You’re a pretty one aren’t you, what’re you doing with a loser like him?” He gestured towards the Pegasus who was clearly terrified out of his wits. “You know, I’ve had a long day, I think I want to wind down a little” He drew the mare closer towards him, who at this point was struggling to escape, looking towards the Pegasus stallion with pleading eyes. He sat motionless.
“He-help” She stammered quietly.
This earned her a punch from the griffon holding her. Leaning forward to taste the blood running from her lip, he whispered to her.
“He won’t help you, right now he just wants to save his own flank.” His eyes flashed as he yelled to the bar. “Ladies and gentlemen! I present to you tonight’s special entertainment, me and three of my buddies getting busy with this fine mare here. All while her coltfriend watches!”
“N-no p-p-please! Som-somebody help please!” The mare’s cries were getting more and more frantic as several griffons laid claws on her, most of them gripping tightly enough to draw blood. By this point Beakshine had already heard all the commotion, and decided to sit this one out in the cellar.
Beads of sweat rolled down the Pegasus’ face, he shut his eyes tightly, pretending to be in some far away place. Tears were running down the mares face now, staining her pearly white coat, she’d stopped resisting and accepted that no one would help her.
“Don’t worry we’ll be gentle little mare” One of the griffons proclaimed, positioning himself behind her. “You know what, I think maybe lets not kill this one straight away, I want to take my time”
The mare sobbed, any second now she would be robbed of her innocence forever. The griffon behind her let out a laugh. Then his face exploded with glass and blood and beer. Everyone in the room turned to face the thrower, a stallion in a brown cloak was staggering to his hooves.
He opened his mouth to speak, but it all came out in a slur. “Leaave hhwer alloonne!” He bellowed. “Fleeeeeuurr!” he screamed as he charged the three griffons. He smashed into one of them with his forhead, the bone snapping with an audible crack.
The griffons let go of the mare, who quickly ran out of the bar screaming. “Get him!!”
The remaining two griffons pounced on the stallion. He had tenacity, and alcohol fueled rage, but he was no fighter, within seconds the griffons were knocking him around with ease. He felt several pairs of talons grip him and throw him outside into the mud. The griffon with the broken leg hovered using his wings, and the one he had glassed was back on his feet. His face was a mess, and it looked like one of his eyes was damaged severely.
“I’m going to kill you slowly little pony” He said as he spat blood onto the ground.
Blows rained down onto the stallion, he drifted in and out of consciousness, his eyes swelling and making it difficult to see, cuts opening on his face, allowing blood to flow freely. His body went slack as though he had accepted death long ago.
Then, as if by some divine intervention the blows stopped. The griffon had been kicked away. Through his limited vision the stallion could see an ancient looking griffon standing over him.
The scarred and bleeding griffon got up once more. In a rage now, he growled. “Another one?! Why are there so many idiots in this shithole looking to die?!”
He ran at the old griffon, screaming threats of death. Then without any warning he slumped to the ground. The three remaining Shadowclaws shared a confused look, then quickly rushed the old griffon.
It was all over in a flash, one moment; three maniac thugs rushed an ancient looking griffon. The next, three griffons joined their leader groaning on the ground.
Silently the griffon extended a talon towards the stallion. As the stallion reached out to grab on, there was only one thing he could think to ask.
“Who are you?” The question came out sounding surprisingly meek and pained.
The old griffon locked eyes with the stallion for a brief moment, seemingly searching his very soul through a simple look.
Speaking in a thickly accented voice that seemed to belong to a griffon many years younger, the griffon replied.
“I have many names, but you… You may call me Ra’s”
Chapter 3 – End
Third chapter already? Damn this stories coming along. Sorry for the long wait everybody, but chapter 3 is here finally. From now on Im going to try make the chapters longer, but I felt for this chapter I left it at a nice point. Tune in next time for another exciting chapter of Batmane Begins. Same Bat time, same Bat channel i.e FIMfiction
