//------------------------------// // Cornered // Story: Batmane, the dark steed // by Guillermo //------------------------------// Fancy woke up slowly, seeing a white ceiling above him, but there was something... off about it. He felt that half of his face was bandaged, in fact, he did not feel his left eyelid. "I'm glad you're awake, Fancy" said a voice to the right of him. With some effort, he managed to turn around and see Princess Celestia smiling fondly at him. "Wh-where am I? Wh-what ha-happened?" he managed to ask. "No matter what happened, the important thing is that you are safe now" said the princess with her best motherly tone, but Fancy would not be happy with that answer. "Fle-Fleur..." The princess changed her face, her smile disappeared, and instead, she seemed to think well of her next words. "I am deeply saddened to say that Fleur…did not survive." Fancy watched the princess with his free eye as wide as he could, processing the news. It couldn't be... Fleur couldn't be dead... "You lie…" he managed to say. Celestia kept her gaze unblinking, centuries of experience manifesting in that moment. "I wish it were like that, but it's the truth. I know it's hard, but you should know that you have friends who are here for you. Rarity is waiting for you outside, if you want I can tell her to come in so you can..." "Replace Fleur?" Fancy growled hatefully, to which Celestia shook her head at him. "You can cry on a friend's shoulder." Fancy watched Celestia for a while before looking up at the ceiling again. "I want to be alone... please..." "Of course, take as long as you need." Princess Celestia got up and left the room, leaving him alone as he wanted. He wept silently, sobbing and mourning for Fleur's death, but there was something strange… he couldn't feel the tears falling from his left eye. "That's because it will never cry again." Fancy opened his free eye in surprise and terror. That voice was now stronger than it had been in his entire life, which was proven because it didn't speak in his mind...it did so through his mouth. "Our mouth, my friend, now this body belongs to both of us. I don't know whether to thank those who did this to us or look for them to kill them for daring to hurt us." Fancy swallowed hard, sitting up with difficulty on his bed, terrified. "Look, I know this hurts you, really, but you need to get over it now. Like you said, you didn't need me with Fleur… but now you do, right?" "Leave me alone... please..." "Oh, I'm not going to. Nopony but your wife and that dead mental hospital director knew about our problem, you won't have pills anymore. And besides, without Fleur, you only have me, do you really want to be alone?" "This isn't happening. It's a nightmare, any minute I'll wake up or Princess Luna will show up or..." "Or you'll realize this is real, you were meant for this." "That's a lie..." "Look at the nightstand next to you, there is our coin. Take it, you will see that I am right." Fancy turned his head and looked at the table that said, sure enough, his modern souped-up, inherited from his grandfather, was there. Swallowing hard, he used his magic to grab it and bring it to him, seeing the shiny golden surface of it with Celestia's face stamped on it, but as he turned it... his world collapsed, because he was looking at a completely black and burned side. The coin quivered in his telekinetic grip, its pin fixed on the black side, until at last, he exploded. He screamed all his frustration, anger, pain and sadness, ripping his bandages off his face. The door to his room burst open and Rarity, closely followed by Applejack, her other friends were still outside. "Fancy! Are you okay?!" she said with concern in her voice, but when the unicorn looked at her, she froze in shock. The left half of Fancy's face was raw, bruises all over his skin, his fur would never grow there, the mane on that side of his head was gone, and almost all of his cheek was gone, leaving the bare teeth. But the most shocking thing was his eye, totally exposed, horribly standing out in his disfigured face, it was incredible that it was still in his place. "GET OUT!! LEAVE US ALONE!!" he yelled, his voice a mix of his normal self and his inner voice. Rarity felt tears come to her face as her former friend demanded that she leave. She felt Applejack placing her hoof on her shoulder, silently supporting her, and they both left the room, rejoining the rest of her friends. Batmame watched from the roof of a building at the last three-story psychiatric hospital in the city. Two weeks had passed since Fancy Pants had his accident and his multiple personality disorder was discovered, and he was admitted to the newly reopened Arkham Asylum. For almost 30 years, it had been closed, but after the fires in three of the four metal hospitals, Princess Celestia found it necessary to put it back into operation, placing there patients who could not be admitted due to lack of space, and there was prosecutor has been sent. Fancy had refused skin implants or any treatment for his condition, and given equestrian law, he had a right to refuse. The only thing he had allowed was a spell cast over his left eye to protect it from outside elements, dryness, and keep it in his place. In the last few weeks, two other hospitals had been burned, the last one with explosives, and he didn't need to look into it to know that it was the Penguin who provided those explosives. Now, Batmane had dedicated himself to guarding the Good Mind Asylum, even installing security cameras courtesy of Blood Enterprises for free, keeping the place under surveillance day and night. At all the entrances, in addition, a pair of policepony had been placed who would register all the ponies that entered the building. Dawn was near, but the bat didn't want to leave yet, he wanted to keep an eye on the hospital for as long as possible. A group of six ponies approached, led by an earth pony in a medical gown, carrying five different good-sized boxes on wheelbarrows. They approached the cops, who stopped them and talked to them for a few moments, letting them pass shortly after, something that alerted Batmane, so he prepared to jump into the building if necessary. The doctor walked nervously through the halls of the psychiatric hospital, with the five ponies behind him, three unicorns, a pegasus and an earth pony. They walked for a while until they reached a warehouse where medicines were kept, going in and making sure nopony was there. Once so, one of the unicorns hit one of the boxes, and immediately, it opened and an earth pony came out from inside, he had pure white fur, a green mane, a macabre smile painted red and a purple suit jacket. The clown jumped from the box to the ground, stretching in place before looking at the doctor. "I love express mail, don't you?" he said with a little giggle at the end. "I've done what you told me... Where is my family?" "Your family?" asked the clown in confusion, bringing a hoof to his chin. "Let's see, your family, your family... Oh yes, your family! They're dead." The earth pony's eyes widened as he took a few steps back. "What...? You said... you said that..." "I said you'd see them again, didn't I?" the clown said with a smile as he pulled a gun from his suit, scaring the pony even more. "And I always keep my promises." The clown fired, killing the pony immediately, then focusing on the others. "Well, you know what to do, oh, and make sure they know, that makes it more fun." The clown laughed out loud, being watched by the other ponies with discomfort. But soon they obeyed and walked away, pulling their guns out of the boxes and firing for attention. Batmane watched the building carefully until the alarm began to sound, seeing the two cops look at each other before running away. The bat growled to himself before jumping up, gliding towards one of the windows and smashing the glass with its hind legs. He landed in an office, but soon got up and went out into the hallway, walking away and looking for those responsible. He reached the stairs, and before going down, he heard someone approaching, so he hid in the shadows to wait. Soon, four ponies arrived, pausing there as a clown-like one pointed at two of them. "You guys go upstairs and get everything ready." The bat watched from the shadows as the two ponies walked up the stairs and the clown and the other pony, a pegasus, entered that floor. Staying in the shadows, he grabbed the unsuspecting pony from behind, but he slammed into the box in his effort to escape, knocking it over and alerting his boss, who watched as Batmane knocked out the wretch. "Wow, but look who it is, I won the lottery" the clown said with a laugh as he backed away, the bat getting closer with each step, and tucked a helmet into his suit. "I must say I love your suit, much better than mine." "Who are you?" Batmane said as he approached, but the clown roared with laughter as he pulled out a small gadget. "Oh, I can't tell you my name yet, it would break the surprise." Acting fast, Batmane lunged at the clown, knocking him to the ground, placing his hoof on his chest and grabbing the device on his magic, ignoring the pony's laughter. The device had a small screen that showed a countdown, about seven minutes. "What's this?!" "The countdown to the fireworks" answered the clown with a raucous laugh, not at all intimidated by the bat. "Something told me I'd need a countdown, thank goodness huh?" Batmane turned and opened the dropped box, seeing the explosives and the same screen with the same countdown. Acting fast, he reached down and pulled back the cover to examine the cables, turning on his 'predator mode' to do so. "Goodbye, Batsy, nice to meet you" said the clown's voice, and when Batmane looked up, he saw that he was walking towards the stairs. With no time for that, he watched the wires and, following the predator mode's instructions, managed to defuse the bomb after almost three minutes, but he wasn't done yet. Getting to his hooves, he ran for the stairs and quickly climbed to the third floor. Using his 'predator mode', he quickly found the two unicorns who had brought the explosives there, about to open the box. Batmane entered, breaking down the door, entering the room, which had a window overlooking the street, and drawing the attention of the two ponies, who pointed their guns at him. "Don't move or...!" "Unless you want to die, let me defuse that bomb, now." The unicorns looked at each other, and without taking their eyes off Batmane, one of them opened the box, backing away instantly. "Fuck, it's active!" "Impossible, the boss said..." The unicorn stopped when he saw that his companion was right, backing away in fear. Batmane walked over to the box, ignoring the ponies now fleeing the building, and eyed the timer. Unfortunately, he had very little time left, he had taken too long with the previous one. Trying to hurry, he set out to defuse the bomb, time against him, barely two minutes. But he knew he wouldn't make it, with less than a minute to spare, and still needing more time to deactivate it, he scrambled as far away as possible and jumped out the window, just in time for the bomb to go off, the shock wave almost trapping him Batmane flipped over in the air and fell onto his back, grunting in pain but reminding himself that he had Time to thank once again for the suit. He got up slowly, watching as the first and third floors were on fire, and soon the second would be too. Even though the asylum was on fire, he might have time to catch the clown before he got away. "Stop!" Batmane turned his head to see the two cops from before along with a group of royal guards, five ponies in total, two unicorns and three pegasi, the latter in the air and with crossbows in their direction, dimly lit by the light of the rising sun. The bat turned to face them, staring at them, knowing that he would no longer be able to chase the clown. "Get on the ground and surrender!" yelled one of the unicorns. Batmane analyzed the situation, he had a group of royal guards there, it was broad daylight, and there was no apparent escape. Time had finished his motor vehicle a few days before, and had parked it in a nearby alley, but it was out of his reach. Besides, autopilot wasn't an option yet, so if he wanted to run away, he'd have to get there first. His gaze fixed on the crossbows, analyzing them, he knew well that the backs of his legs weren't as protected as the rest of his suit, but since they were shavings and not bullets, he believed he could bear the pain. "I won't do it again!" The bat made as if to obey, but with a swift movement, he turned and ran away, feeling the shavings fly to the sides of him. One of them hit his right hind leg, eliciting a grunt, but he kept going. He swerved into an alley and ran through it as fast as he could, seeing an abandoned building nearby, a building he recognized, his Batmobile behind it. Still being shot, Batmane threw himself against one of the wood-panelled windows, collapsing to the ground and hissing in pain. With effort, he managed to get up and go up to the first floor, he wanted to get to the roof to get to his vehicle. As he climbed the stairs, a voice he knew well stopped him, drawing his attention to one of the windows. "Batmane, I know you're there!" Batmame peeked out, seeing Princess Celestia outside, her horn lit up with a speaker spell. Several chariots were approaching and more royal guards were getting out of them. "I'm so sorry you got shot!" she said, looking askance at one of the pegasus guards, who stepped back a bit. "If you give up now, I promise we won't hurt you!" One of the carriages arrived, even larger than the others, and a group of ponies emerged, wearing much thicker armor and with a sun emblazoned on their chests. Batmane knew who they were, Supernovas, Celestia's elite royal guard, and that they were only used in extreme situations. "These ponies are going in, please surrender peacefully!" Batmane watched everything from the outside, studying the Supernovas, ten in all, all unicorns and with automatic crossbows. One of them looked up and pointed directly at him, so the bat backed away from the window, cursing to himself. In his state, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get up on the roof quickly. Looking around him, he noticed how dark everything was, so he decided to take advantage of that. The Supernovas climbed the stairs to the second floor, finding an area that had once been offices, filled with cubicles that had once given the workers some privacy. "Remember, the target is an expert in hiding in the shadows and eliminating his opponents from the darkness, be alert and alert at the slightest sign of him" said the leader, then sending his ponies to walk the room. One of them advanced through the corridors of the cubicles, his horn lighting the way, a noise was heard behind him, so he turned quickly, only to find nothing. Calmly, he turned around again, meeting Batmane's face who lunged at him before he could react. The bat dragged the unconscious body into one of the stalls and moved forward, knocking out two more ponies. His fourth prey was advancing at one of the farthest ends, and when he lunged at his back, he soon realized that he would give more trouble. The Supernova got on his hind legs and slammed Batmane against the wall several times, only managing to make him groan. Desperate, and feeling that his consciousness was leaving him, he illuminated his horn as much as possible, lighting up the room and drawing the attention of his companions. Leaving the body unconscious, the bat threw himself behind a table, placing it as a shield in time to avoid the rain of chips it received. Cornered, he decided to use his last resource, something he had taken weeks to accomplish... call in reinforcements. Using his magic, he flipped a small button on his left gauntlet and waited, praying they'd make it in time. Princess Luna landed on the ground, two of her night guards nearby, though they had to stop to catch their breath. Furious, she walked over to her sister, who was still staring at the building. "What are you doing?!" "Arresting a criminal" Celestia said simply, not even looking at her sister, something that drove her crazy. "A criminal who has helped us a lot and saved Fancy Pants!" "And for that I will allow him to join your guard" replied the sun princess as she looked at her younger sister. Both princesses looked at each other defiantly. Before Luna could say an answer, a noise alerted everypony. They were screams, coming closer and closer. The ponies turned in the direction of the noise, their eyes widening at what they saw, a cloud of bats approaching. "What the hell is that pony?" a royal guard whispered as he backed away. With a continuous screech, the bats pounced on the ponies, who barely managed to take cover in time, the unicorns and princesses with magic shields and the rest with their paws. Inside, the Supernovae inched closer to their target, but stopped when the windows shattered and a barrage of dark animals swooped down on them, forcing them to back up and take cover. Batmane took advantage of this moment to come out of hiding from him, the bats surrounding him in a tornado, advancing slowly. He could see some of the Supernovas backing away with fear in their eyes. The bat reached the stairs and glanced at the ponies, holding out his hoof to point at them, and the animals quickly took his hint, lunging for them as he made his escape. Batmane reached the roof and advanced as fast as he could, peering out the other side and seeing the silhouette of his batmobile there, dropping down and entering it. In the sky, two bats watched him put the car in gear and entered the building, shortly after emerging with the rest of their flock and walking away back to their cave with the masked pony.