Justice:

A Reclaiming Equestria Story Featuring DCAU Batman and Woman Woman

Chapter Eight: Guerrilla warfare

Castle of the Two sisters: Courtyard

Spike stood uncertain. Shame and disgust filled his senses, and he felt a driving need to simply leave. It wasn't that he didn't want to help, but instead he felt as if there was simply no way to redeem himself over what had happened. The only thing he had done that could be considered redeemable was to get Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo into an enchanted Power Ponies comic. It had been a giant two hundred page issue, something that only came out once a year, and when he saw what was going on with the Caribou he had tracked the crusaders down and told them to read it. The moment they did he had gotten out reach from them and let them get sucked into the Power Ponies world.

In there they would be safe from the Caribou. He took the comic straight to the Castle of the Two sisters, to its library, and by the time he got back to Ponyville it was too late. Twilight had fallen, they had captured both Luna and Celestia, and he was no match for the magic they were using. It had twisted him, converted him, and turned him into something he really wasn't. He'd always imagined what it would have been like to be with Rarity, but what had happened between Twilight, her, and him had destroyed what could have been. There was no doubt in his mind that he still cared for the beautiful unicorn, but he didn't attempt to fool himself any longer.

He didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve her forgiveness, her friendship, and especially not a romantic relationship. He heard someone speak, looked up, and saw one of the heroes that had come to save them. He stood there, before them, and cleared his throat. The group began to quiet down, and Spike listened, intent on learning how he could start to make up for everything he had done.

Bruce stood at the front of the collection of individuals. Farmers, bakers, library assistants, merchants, and carpenters seemed to be the ones gathered. He looked at them all, male and female, both looking concerned, wary, but determined to be here. He held up a bow, and indicated to the bows that were laid out in front of him.

"This battle isn't going to be a front line assault. Your former capturers would expect a swift and direct assault. We will take our time, attack from cover, weaken them, and drive them out that way."

"If we attacked them all at once we could win!" a violet colored mare with a green mane said.

He looked at her, "Possibly, but even if you won here, in your small town, what about the rest of the country?"

They quieted down as he studied him, "I am not proposing a simple driving them out here and now. I'm proposing a complete and total removal from your country."

Diana neared him, "What Batman is proposing is winning a war, not a single battle."

She looked at the gathered individuals. All of them had suffered under the tyrannical rule of the Caribou. The mares had been forced into a life of little more than sex slaves, the stallions forced to reduce themselves to their lowest, and most base, desires. Those that did not fall under the compulsion of the Caribou's magic either fell into line, or they were killed. She had spent time with Diamond Tiara, and she heard as Diamond Tiara spoke of what happened to her father.

He had been killed for attempting to protect her, to protect her mother, and in that regard she held the memory of this fallen stallion in higher regard. She didn't fault any of the stallions here. The ones they had rescued had been under the magical compulsion, and from what she had learned they felt sick about what had happened. The simple fact that so many felt terrible about what had happened, and about the actions that had taken place meant that healing could happen.

The ponies began to move forward. Each of them selecting a bow, a quiver, and a selection of arrows. Bruce had already spoken to her, and Shayera, about training them. She understood that in truth she was better at archery than he was. Granted, Oliver was as skilled, if not more so, than she, but he was not here. As they took up their bows she led them toward a large open area of the courtyard, and in the distance was several dummies that Bruce, Clark, and Wally had constructed. They appeared to be similar to the Caribou in shape, and she could see the fear they were inspiring already.

Shayera moved toward the front, and Diana could already see her militaristic attitude making its presence known. She stood near Diana, selected a bow, took an arrow, notched it, and turned toward the dummies. Without more than a second of hesitation she let her arrow fly and it struck one the dummies in the chest. Diana realized that where it stuck was somewhere that would incapacitate the Caribou, but not kill.

"What you're holding a tool. It's no different than any baking, gardening, or carpentry tool that you've ever used. Like any of those tools it has to be given the respect it's due. Because unlike those tools it has one true purpose. It is designed to mame, injure, or kill. Mostly it is designed to kill. It is a hunter's tool, and I am going to teach each of you how to be hunters."

A pink mark with a dark purple mane stepped forward, "I thought that you were going to teach us to fight!"

She looked at the mare, an Earth Pony, as the mare studied them. She motioned toward the others there.

"I'm not sure about all of them, but I want to learn to fight, not hunt."

Shayera neared her, "I'm sure you do, but in order to be effective we're going to have to learn how to hide, how to go unnoticed, and how to use a hunter's tactics when engaging the enemy. A straightforward attack is a good way of getting yourself, and everyone else, killed," she looked at everyone, "That's why I'm going to teach you to hunt. You're going to learn how to track, how to fire a bow, and how to hit what you're firing at. Batman is going to teach you to hide in the shadows, how to strike quickly, quietly, and effectively. Diana is going to teach you more advanced uses for the bows, how to use swords and battle axes, and then from my understanding your Princess Luna is going to teach you battle tactics with unicorn magic."

She looked at them, "It is going to take time, and we are not going to be done in a few days. This is going to take weeks, and that's rushing it."

The mare stepped back, and she looked at them again. The being Discord had created them clothes, although for the most part no one would say that his fashion designs were something to be admired. In truth, most of what he had created seemed to clash not only with the top, or bottom, but with the pony wearing them. Princess Luna had distributed the old armor that was inside of this castle to some of the more able bodied ponies in attendance. Those that were wearing the armor stuck out from the group. One, a large red stallion, seemed to have the armor segmented in the chest in order for it to fit. Shayera looked at the armor for a moment. Under it was obviously a chainmail shirt, so the segmented chest wasn't too bad. Although a good arrow from a distance could pierce the chainmail.

There was a reason why solid plate armor became the norm instead of segmented armor. Of course what they really needed was ballistic weave. Something similar to what Batman's armor was made from would be the best, but it was doubtful that the technology to create it existed here. Fighting like how Bruce suggested didn't exactly call for armor, but she knew that there was always going to be a chance that even guerrilla warfare tactics could go sideways quickly. It was simply easier to be well prepared than it was to be in a situation with no protection at all.

Still she tabled these thoughts for the moment. Instead she began going to each one of the ponies gathered, walking toward them, and showing them the correct way to hold their bow. Then she had the first six come forward, and she told them to pick a place on each of the dummies, focus on it, aim toward it, and then release the arrow they had notched on the bow string.

The first wave came short of the dummies. She noticed that almost all of them seemed to be about two foot short of their targets. It wasn't an issue with the bows, but instead it was with the ponies. They weren't weak enough, but they didn't know how much strength to put into the bow strings in order to fire their arrows correctly. She looked at them.

"Okay, that was a piss poor attempt."

There were several sour faces, but she held up her hand, "But it was an attempt. You will get better at this. Take a moment to notice how short your arrow came from your target," she saw them looking ahead, most of them looked irritated, but that didn't matter, "Now, I want you to go to the back of the lines, the next six step up."

The next six stepped forward and they did the same as the previous six, this time the distances between the dummies and the arrows were far more varied. There was a couple that overshot, one that was short, and two that had barely managed to clip an arm and a leg respectively. She had them swap out, and for the next four hours every single one of them practiced with their bows until they could hit center mass on the dummies. Even then it wasn't perfect, but it was certainly better than they expected.

As they continued practicing Shayera traded out with Diana. The groups of them looked at Diana as she motioned toward someone in the back. Wally nodded, and he began pulling ropes that were connected to the dummies making them move forward and back. The group that had been practicing stood looking stunned. Diana took the bow, looked down it, and released an arrow hitting one of the dummies in the head. She did the same two more times. The ponies stood looking stunned. She then looked at the group standing there. She called six of them forward again, and they stood in front of the others.

"This is going to be harder, but you have to think about where the target is going to be, not where it is, and then you fire at that point."

The large red stallion looked down at the dummies, notched an arrow, and released it. She was amazed to see that he had hit on his first time, and that he had hit somewhere that would be non lethal. She had him fire again, and he did, hitting the same dummy in the left knee. Had it been a real Caribou it would be unable to walk, let alone run. He would have hobbled it. It would be something that Bruce would do, and she was surprised to see someone that would be willing to do the same.

"Did you imagine it to be where you fired?"

"Eeeeyup," he said.

"Was it difficult?"

"Eeeenope," he replied, before looking at the dummies, "Course, I gotta figure that the real ones are gonna be tougher."

She nodded, there was truth in his statement, and he was correct. Actual living targets would be far harder to hit. As the day progressed all of the ponies had practiced, and while there were varied ranges of abilities all could handle a bow with some skill. There were obviously some that had far better skill than others. Those individuals seemed to be almost gifted toward it. As it became closer to dark all were lead inside and there was food waiting for them.

Berries, Apples, potatoes, wild onions, and other types of foods had been gathered. There was a movement to begin growing food near the castle, and Luna had approved of it. The ponies ate as if they had been starved for ages. Bruce watched them, eating a cooked fish, some sauteed wild onions, an apple, and a small selection of berries. He noticed that Diana was eating a similar meal. As they sat together he looked over the group.

"There's some of them that might do well setting up traps, or helping to make weapons," he said.

She looked toward him and nodded, "I noticed. There are a few who grasp how to use the bow, but do not possess any skill at it."

He looked at the food on his plate, "I don't want to cut them to early, perhaps they'll shine at stealth, but I have my doubts."

He saw Clark coming up beside him. It was odd seeing their friends as ponies. The four of them took a seat, and he noticed that Clark's entire collection of food was almost strictly vegetarian. The only two without a strictly vegetarian meal was Wally and Shayera. The four of them began to eat, and after a moment Shayera looked at both Bruce and Diana.

"So are we going to talk about the train wreck out there?"

Diana grinned, "They're eager, but there were several of them that showed promise."

Shayera shook her head, "Sure, there were, but even the ones that showed the most promise wouldn't be anywhere near what I'd call ready in a few weeks time. I wasn't kidding earlier when I said a few weeks was pushing it."

Bruce looked at her, "The South Vietnamese learned guerilla warfare tactics from American Soldiers in less than a month's time. Granted, they mainly learned how to avoid detection, and how to set up traps, but it was quickly learned."

Shayera nodded, "Sure, and like the South Vietnamese they're motivated, but we've got to deal with about a third of our force not being able to hit anywhere close to where they're aiming. They can hit the target, which is a step forward, but it's a long ways away from being good enough to allow on a battlefield."

Bruce gave a nod, "I won't argue, but we need to make due."

They ate in silence, and slowly everyone began to head off toward their sleeping areas. Sleeping was something that wasn't the easiest thing in the world for many inside of the castle. Luna had begun to take it upon herself to revisit the dreams of her subjects, and she had begun to help to heal their wounded psyches. Still Spoiled Rich found herself unable to sleep. She laid away, her mind going to the point in time where Filthy died.

She had always considered herself to be above other ponies. Her husband's resources certainly gave her more protection than most ponies could believe, but being wealthy did nothing when the Caribou arrived. Greed, as powerful of an ally as it was, was nothing compared to uncontrolled lust. When Filthy refused to rape her, and their daughter, in front of their captures, and refused to allow them to do the same, he had been beaten to death.

She had watched as they beat him to the ground, then as he stopped moving, and long after he stopped breathing. Right after she was ripped away from Diamond Tiara, and her clothes were ripped away. She would never forget the vicious way they handled her, what they did to her daughter, and what she felt inside wasn't a need for justice. She wanted vengeance. She wanted every one of them to die.

The bow that laid beside her was a key to this. The wealth she once had was a key to a protected life, or it was in a perfect world. But this bow was the key to vengeance. The stupid bird pony did have a point. Going out and challenging the Caribou directly would be foolish. Instead it would be best to strike silently. She planned on learning, and she planned on killing the ones that took her Filthy from her, and the same ones that used her and her daughter. She would bring them to their knees, and only after they had suffered for hours would she grant them the release they would beg for.

Finally sleep found her, and as it did she found her mind finding some peace. Luna observed the dreams of her ponies. Many wanted blood for what the Caribou had done, and that was something she was fine with as well. She knew that Bruce didn't want needless death, but she didn't believe there was truly anything left to save of the Caribou. Still, there were other dreams. Big Macintosh himself was dreaming of a mare he had been dating before this happened. A Sugar Belle, and from what she could tell the dream wasn't erotic in the slightest. Instead the two of them were simply sitting together.

She had hope that he would eventually be able to do so with her. Still, through the night she observed and attempted to heal the minds of her subjects, taking their pain, and slowly baring it on her own. The night finally ended, the morning began, and training began for many that was there. As the days drew on the ponies began to learn how to blend into the shadows, how to make little to no noise as they moved, they learned how to fight with axes, hammers, fists and hooves. And as was believed more than a few were told that they excelled at some parts, but would be a hindrance at others.

Many learned how to make traps, dead falls, pits, snares, and as they did they began setting those traps closer to the entrance of the Everfree. After five weeks there was at least thirty that Bruce believed was good enough to go on an offensive mission with him. Among them was Spike. Spike looked to his side to see Sunset Shimmer. The orange and red alicorn was wearing a quiver and bow, both of which she proved she was decent with.

Their first offensive move was toward some of the farming communities outside of Ponyville. The place they began at was called Oneigh, a community that was more of a mining community than a farming one. It bordered on the Diamond Dog lands, but the dogs had kept the Caribou out by staying in their tunnels. As they moved forward Sunset let loose an arrow which caught a Caribou in the knee. He fell, his mouth open, but no sound coming out. She moved forward, her horn glowing, and behind her was Spike. He quickly broke the antlers off of the Caribou, and then they tied him up.

Once he was back with the others he began to open up about how many there were, what they were doing in Oneigh, and then he found himself knocked senseless. Six Caribou was all that was inside of Oneigh. And in less than fifteen minutes all but one of them had been removed from action. Bruce looked at the final Caribou, a grizzled older buck, who was standing at the foot of a bed. In the bed was a young female. She couldn't be more than thirteen years old. Bruce's reaction didn't take long. He slammed his knuckles into the buck, knocking him out, and then he looked at the black collared filly.

She looked up at him, "Please, do not hurt this slave, this slave will please you! This… This slave knows to take things in any hole her master desires, please…."

He knelt down, cutting her free, and watched as she lay spread out, her eyes wide in fear.

"You're free," he said.

She looked away from him, "No… I'm not," she whispered.

Her light blue mane was matted, but partly looked as though it had been done in a Shirley Temple style, her soft pink, almost peach, coat looked matted, and from what he could see she was a Pegasus, but her wings were trapped like the others.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"This slave d… Please, don't make me say it… he'll beat me again if I do."

Diana came in, and she saw what was going on, "Hera."

The young filly looked at her, "Why aren't you stripped? Don't you understand that they'll beat and rape you?!"

Bruce looked at her, "No, they won't. We have captured all of them, and like I said, you are free."

She began to cry, and Diana pulled her close to her, "Come with us," she said.

The girl wept as she lifted her, "M...My name is Cozy Glow," she whimpered.