Hello, internet! Welcome to my new Batman-MLP crossover, as well as the first M-rated story that I've ever posted on here. Now, as I'm sure all of you who've read the description know, this is a Displaced story. In case you don't know what a Displaced story is, they usually go something like this:

Guy goes to a convention wearing cosplay of say, the Red Hood. Guy buys an item related to Red Hood from a cloaked and hooded merchant (because when has that ever gone well.) Guy passes out and wakes up in Equestria, somehow transformed into the one and only Red Hood.

Now, on Fimfiction, I've done my fair share of stories that follow the Displaced formula I just mentioned. However, I prefer a different method of Displacement, as you're about to see. Well, I think I've talked long enough. Let's begin!

Chapter 1: Mugging Gone Stranger

Everfree Asylum- 11:30 PM

Pale light shined into the asylum from the moon above, giving slight illumination to the darkened corridors and hallways. Lights out had been over an hour ago, but the inmate of cell 1995 seemed apathetic to the passage of time.

In fact, he didn't seem to care about anything at all. He had been sitting in his cell for hours, staring out at the guards of Everfree Asylum.

"I want my phone call," he would state as they walked by, matter-of-factly and with a grin on his face. Though, that was not unusual. In fact, all he ever did was smile.

He had been apprehended near the neighborhood where most agreed that Ponyville ended an Canterlot began. The cell's occupant had been killing criminals for the last seven months, even going so far as to take out crime lords themselves along with all their subordinates, including Police and Royal Guardsponies who, as it turned out, were on the take, all while using a decidedly unusual set of...tools of the trade.

The cell's occupant perked up when he heard the door to his cell begin to open, light flooding his dark chamber. Several guards entered, quickly seizing the occupant and cuffing his hands and ankles, before pulling him to his feet and escorting him out of the cell.

"Ooh, am I finally going to get my phone call?" asked the unknown figure, a light laugh in his voice.

"No." A guard growled, "Who in Tartarus would call you anyway?"

"I'll have you know that I have a wide array of friends." The prisoner giggled, "Then again, those might just be the voices…"

"There's a couple of Ponyville detectives here who want to talk to you." one of the guards muttered, dragging the man down the hallway.

"That sounds delightful," the prisoner laughed, stretching out the "e" as they arrived at one of the asylum's interrogation rooms. Upon opening the door, the figure caught sight of two figures. The first, a lavender-skinned young woman, toying with long indigo hair, bangs split by a prominent horn. The second, a young-looking man-dragon, still tall despite his seeming youth. She wore a red jacket and khaki pants, with a pair of polished black shoes. He wore a black shirt covered by a grey overcoat, a matching pair of khakis and like shoes. Both sported off-gold detective badges, emblazoned with a shape of intertwined unicorn horn, pegasus wing, and a simple hoof.

The figure remained absolutely silent as the guards placed him in a grey chair and left, one muttering some degree of well-wishes. The woman cleared her throat, and spoke with a light sort of voice, "Good evening. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my partner Spike."

"Evening, my sweet." the prisoner chuckled out, noting the slight tensing of the dragon. Twilight sat down in a chair opposite.

"We would like to ask you some questions. Firstly, however," Twilight motioned to Spike. The dragon moved a lie detector onto the table between the detective and prisoner.

"Oh boy…" the prisoner groaned, "You know these don't work, right?"

"That's not true." The dragon piped up as he attached the machine to the inmate's arm.

"Believe me, boy, I know these things. Don't work on crazies like me." The inmate laughed. Twilight marked something down in a notepad.

"You recognize that you're 'crazy', then?" Twilight asked, offering a smile.

"Don't pretend with the smile." The inmate smiled wide, showing off a full set of off-white teeth, "You know, you remind me of this other psychiatrist that I used to know…"

Twilight fidgeted slightly in her seat as the man stared her down, "Off-topic. Can you tell us your name?"

The man seemed to think, "Don't remember. I think it was...Napier, or something? Maybe Richardson? Mark? I can't remember for the life of me. They call me Green-Haired Wacky Man."

Twilight gave him a look of disbelief, "Okay, Mister...Man, I-"

"You see?! Didn't go off, and I'm lying through my teeth here!" The inmate cackled, "Call me 'Joker'. Apt, right?"

Twilight seemed to compose herself, "I see. Joker. Interesting name."

The Joker smiled wider, "Sweet girl. Tell me, how do you feel about acid baths?"

Spike seized the Joker by the collar, "Are you threatening her?"

"Now why would I threaten someone I just met?!" Joker laughed, "Although, that does sound like me. Or does it?"

"Spike, let him go," Twilight gave Spike a look. The dragon complied and released The Joker from his grip. "Now, then, what's this about acid baths?"

Joker chuckled a little. "Simple. You see, I'm of the belief that the best kind of past is multiple choice. But even if I choose A or B or C or M or X, they always seem to end with me falling into a vat of chemicals in some way shape or form, and with me coming out looking like...well, this.

The Joker held his arms as far apart as his restraints would allow, as if he was showing off his thin, lanky body.

"Sometimes they involve a giant bat monster chasing after me, sometimes they don't. Although… lately, there's been one particular version of my past that seems to be a bit more… clear… than the others," Joker said.

"And… what version of your past is this?" Twilight was writing on her little notepad quickly.

The Joker gave a laugh and began to tell the detectives about the latest past he'd bubbled into his test.

…

A young man was running.

A young man, short blonde locks swishing around his boyish face, jumpsuit bagging around his thin form, was running, running fast from that fire.

Perhaps a bad decision, he looked back and saw the bright-burning fire through his cracked glasses. Burning as a regular fire by sight, but the smell and the smoke and the faint popping noise had it burning as some marriage of flame and chemical.

Nature and man, Surtr and Freyr, burning together, opposites attracting as the world falls to pieces the young man almost chuckled at that. If he lived, he might break out his little poetry notebook back home. He let his thoughts briefly carry him back to his little flat in the Lower East Side, before the roaring inferno brought him back. Catwalks fell, columns collapsed, walls shook and broke. The man was reminded vaguely of a scripture.

None of his co-workers seemed to know how the fire had started, but that barely mattered at this point. Despite valiant attempts at containment, things spiraled out of control quickly, and the only thing left to do was evacuate, a task easier said than done with Iblis's wet dream burning behind them.

Come on! You're almost at the exit! The man screamed in his thoughts as he drew closer to a rectangle of light, obscured only slightly by smoke. Freedom.

"Brendan!"

A quick glance over his shoulder, and he saw two of his fellows, friends even, holding onto the railing of what was once a catwalk for dear life. Brendan noticed the vat of chemical bubbling underneath. For a moment, he had to wonder if Fate was a fan of comic books, or if it just had a sick sense of humor.

The thought of running crossed his mind. It died quickly as he ran towards the catwalk's still-intact ladder, finding himself soon staring down at his comrades.

"Will!" Brendan yelled, holding out a gloved hand. Will was hoisted up by a strength Brendan never knew he was capable of. Nathan was ascended with the same seemingly-unnatural force. The three stood for a moment, before hell seemed to close around them in an orchestra of clanging steel and exploding chemicals.

The three began to run. The rectangle of freedom seemed to glow brighter.

Brendan was the first to hear the flames creep up, and (even more unsettling), hear them seem to stop for a moment. Almost as if the universe had paused for dramatic effect. The chemical vat that had so nearly cost his friends their lives roared up, flaming mixture exploding behind them.

Split-second. Adrenaline. The world seemed to slow. Brendan pushed his friends forward, edging them into the light. The catwalk under him gave away, and he was left holding himself up by a loose grip.

The grip faltered entirely as a shower of debris came down on his hand. He fell.

Falling.

Falling.

It burned, and what was once Brendan Kane burned with his factory.

…

"At least," the Joker looked to the ceiling inquisitively, "I think that's how it happened. Maybe my pregnant wife was involved somehow? A red mask, too?"

He began to laugh.

Twilight continued to write on her notepad, "Now, you said that your real name is...Brendan, yes? Odd name. Nothing like we have here in Equestria."

"Again, could be. Could be Jack, Mark, John, Kevin, Harvey, Heath." The Joker reclined in his chair, balancing on the back two legs, "And what the hell is an 'Equestria'? Isn't that some sort of Canadian provisional government?"

"What's 'Canadian'? And you don't know about Equestria?" Twilight cocked her head to the side.

"Sweetie, do I look like any of you? I mean, it's not like I have a weird skin tone and technicolor hair, right?" The Joker stared before bursting into further laughter.

Spike slammed a fist on the table, "Twilight, he just seems crazy to me. If he doesn't even know what Equestria is, he can't be sane."

Twilight shot her partner a look. "Well, Mr. Joker, we're in Equestria right now. Constitutional monarchy, largest economy on Terram-Equus, pr-"

The Joker let out a loud, howling laugh. "Equus? Horse?! You're kidding me! All this time I've been slaughtering scumbags and crime lords, even at the cost of becoming one of this place's most wanted criminals, and it was a land of magical horses all along?!"

His laugh slowly became a sort of humming, sounding like some kind of a theme song. "Is your reigning monarch named Hassenfield?"

Spike and Twilight glanced at each other, having no idea what this clown was talking about.

"Erm, yes, now about these…'scumbags and crime lords' that you've killed. It's been reported that police officers were included in this."

"Dirty police. If the cops are dirty like me, where's the fun in being the 'bad guy'?"

"What can you tell us about them? Why kill them in the first place, rather than allowing the Royal Guard or CPD to handle?"

Joker chuckled a little. "What Police and Royal Guard? As far as I can tell, that rainbow-haired Lieutenant and her Captain are the only honest law enforcers in this place. Those criminals and crime lords I've killed had their chance, and they wasted it, along with their lives. As for the dirty cops and soldiers, I'm merely delivering the punchline for the bad jokes they seem to think their oaths and badges are."

Spike raised a brow. "What do you mean, they wasted it?"

"Well, take my big debut for example. My grand entrance to the stage!"

…

Two women walked, one stumbling slightly, the other walking with a certain degree of grace expected of Canterloters.

"Vinyl, you know that much alcohol in someone's system can kill, yes?" The more graceful of the two spoke up, a light accent permeating her speech. She brushed a few stray brunette bangs from her grey forehead. The black dress clung to her like a second skin.

"T-Tavee, y-you knouu I like livinnh on tha edge…" The inebriated woman giggled out, looking at her companion through her vibrant-purple glasses. She ran an ivory hand through locks of electric blue hair, toying lightly with a prominent horn. Her dress was much like her body, white with hints of blue and purple. Not a dress, but jacket and pants. A certain degree of infemininity could be gleaned.

"I think a big part of that is 'living'."

"Tavi", or Octavia as her proper name was, chuckled as she looked to the sky. Luna's moon had been raised while the two women were in a club. A few scattered clouds, light breeze, not too chilly. A good night.

"Hey, Tavi, you knou thish guy followinh ussh?"

Octavia cast a quick glance behind her. A man behind the two was toying with a cigarette. His charcoal skin was nigh-indistinguishable from his black jacket. The jacket's hood was upon his head, but a few strands of cyanish hair stuck out beyond its placement.

Something about the man unsettled Octavia. Perhaps it was merely a sense of paranoia on her part, but Octavia nonetheless grabbed Vinyl's hand and increased pace. She made an effort not to walk too fast, but nerves fought with her critical thought.

Everything's fine. Everything's fine, Octavia.

Glancing over her shoulder again, Octavia saw that the man was keeping up with them, and that he had four friends joining him in the chase.

Everything's not fine.

"Tavi, was goin' non," slurred Vinyl in both drunkenness and confusion as Octavia sped up to a noticeable degree.

"Vinyl, don't panic, but I think we're being followed." Octavia noted the panic seeping into her voice. Octavia heard footfalls behind her. She thought things like this were a myth, that they only happened in movies. Right?

Perhaps against her better judgement, Octavia pulled Vinyl into a dark alleyway, following it to a hypothetical safety. Four more men blocked their path.

"Ladies!"

Octavia turned. The charcoal man stood surrounded by his fellows. Octavia noticed two feathered wings stretching themselves out from behind his back. A pegasus?

Octavia tightened her grip on Vinyl's hand, "I-I don't want any trouble. So, if y-you could just-"

The man smiled, "Sweetie, I don't want any trouble. I mean, I mean, boys, have I ever gone out seeking trouble before?"

The men murmured various negations, aside from a single crimson individual, "I mean, not unless they try anything. Then you do somethin'."

Vinyl snickered, the pegasus put a hand to his temple, "Garble, what have we told you about facade?"

Garble coughed and made an exaggerated scowl, "I get you, Thunderlane."

The pegasus made a noise of disbelief, "And what did I say about anonym-Fine, whatever, I'll deal with you later."

"Ladies," Thunderlane forced a smile, "it's like they said. I'm not unreasonable, I'm not violent. I'm just in a bad place in life."

Octavia tightened her grip on Vinyl's hand. Vinyl chuckled drunkenly, "Well, that's not good."

Thunderlane clapped his hands together, "See? She gets it! I'd like to get out of this bad place, but poverty is a pretty...constricting force. So, since you two seem so nice, I'm assuming that you'd want to help us out. A donation, perhaps?"

"D-donation?" Octavia recoiled slightly.

"Give us your money!" Garble shouted out. A smack sent him into silence.

"As my…" Thunderland cast Garble a look, "partner… said, we need you to hand over all of your bits right now-"

Laughter rang out in the alley. The thugs looked around for its source.

A light rap of footfalls signalled the giggler's approach. Out of the relative shadows created by the night walked what seemed to be a clown from the dreams of a demented child, with chalk skin and bright green hair that contrasted nicely with the dark purple suit.

Thunderlane chuckled, a slight shakiness to his voice, "Who the hell are you?"

The clown smiled, rosy red lips stretching over yellowed teeth, "If you'd like, I'll give you my business card."

Thunderland cried out as something imbedded itself in his arm. He turned to his gang, "What the hell are you idiots waiting for?! Kill the freak!"

As the men rushed the clown, Thunderlane pulled out the object in his arm. It was a playing card, razor sharp.

It was The Joker.

Garble pulled a knife, pulling his arm back. The clown grinned, ducking underneath Garble's thrust. He grabbed the Dragon from underneath, pulling him into a choke-hold as the knife fell from Garble's hand.

"Wanna see a magic trick?" The Joker asked, grabbing the knife in midair. He jammed it into the wall by the handle, "I'm gonna make the knife disappear."

Joker pushed Garble into the wall as another thug ran towards the two. Joker stopped at the opposite wall, and kneed the thug in the side. He grabbed the street-tough by the arm and slammed him on top of Garble, sandwiching the Dragon between the wall and his comrade.

Thunderlane ran to Garble, pulling him from the wall. A handle stuck out from his throat.

"Ta-da! It's gone!" The Joker kicked Thunderlane in the face, breaking the peagsus's nose.

Octavia stared in shock. Vinyl was beginning to sober, if only by a margin, "Tavii, whass happenin'? Who'sss that?"

Octavia grabbed Vinyl's hand and began to step back. The Joker turned from kicking Thunderlane, laughing, "What are you two running off for? Don't you want to enjoy the show?"

"S-stay away from us!" Octavia shouted, her voice positively trembling.

The Joker laughed, hunching over with his arms on his stomach, "Th-that's funny! I save you, and you're gonna run! Who do you think I am? The big, bad, ba-"

A thug hit Joker in the back of the head with a wooden baseball bat. The clown fell to his knees, coughing, "Y-you know, don't hit the prisoner in the head. Gets them all dizzy, can't feel anything else…"

The bat swung towards his head again, but a purple-clad arm shot out and grabbed it in midair. The Joker ripped it from his assailant's hand, and slammed the handle into the thug's abdomen.

The thug fell to the ground. The Joker flipped the bat around and hit himself in the hand, "See?! Nothing!"

The thug began to stand, but a blow to the back sent him down again, "Wow, that looked like it really hurt…"

Another blow, this time to the shoulder, "Whoa, that looked like it hurt a lot more…

"Let's clear this up. What hurts more? A or B?" The Joker started laughing as he took the bat to the thug with an almost childlike enthusiasm.

Thunderlane picked himself up from the ground, the pain from his nose making his eyes tear up. He saw the two women staring in shock. Thunderlane growled, "You bitch!"

He ran at Octavia, who started to run off. Thunderlane tried to grab at her, but caught the hood of Vinyl's jacket instead.

"Vinyl!" Octavia cried out.

"Freak! Get off Rover now, or this little one gets it!" Thunderlane pulled Vinyl into a choke hold, placing a knife at her throat.

The Joker stood, panting and giggling lightly, "You see, I'd like to 'get off him'. But I don't think that'd help him much."

Thunderlane looked at Rover's unmoving form as Joker's laughter rang out, "You animal!"

"You're one to talk, trying to mug people on the streets." The Joker wagged his finger, "Tisk-tisk. This city doesn't need scum like you. It needs a better class of criminal."

"What the hell do you mean?!" Thunderlane pressed the knife harder against Vinyl's throat, a thin line of red beginning to trail down.

"You don't stand for anything…" Joker began to walk closer, "You're like little animals just surviving. You aren't living!"

"Don't get any closer! I'll kill her, I swear to God!" Thunderlane cried out.

"Swear to m-" Joker laughed harder, "Nope! Not gonna say it! You see, I stand for something. I believe in something…"

The Joker stood only a few feet from Thunderlane and Vinyl, "What doesn't kill you only makes you stranger. Test it for me."

The Joker threw another razor card. Thunderlane sidestepped quickly, and the card imbedded itself in the alley wall. Thunderlane chuckled, "Missed me, you freak!"

The Joker giggled, "Did I?"

He lifted his sleeve and pressed a button on his wrist. Behind Thunderlane, the world seemed to burst into flames. Thunderlane was thrown forward, and his knife cut deep into Vinyl's throat before flying out of his hand from the force. The unicorn slammed into a wall, while Thunderlane was forced to the ground, his back burning and stinging.

"Ah! Fucking freak!" Thunderlane cried out in pain. The Joker stood above him.

"Feeling strange?" The Joker said as he picked the pegasus up and dusted off his jacket, "If you aren't, don't worry, I can fix it. I can make this one bad day for you real quick…"

The Joker, keeping a good grip on Thunderlane, pulled out some sort of injection-gun filled with a green fluid. "You look glum. It's okay…"

The Joker drove the gun's needle into Thunderlane's neck, giggling, "I'll put a smile on your face…"

The Joker let Thunderlane fall to the ground. As the pegasus tried to get up, he began to giggle, and his face began to stretch into a grin.

"Wha-ha-ha haha- what did y-y-yah ha ha ha- you just do-ho-hoo-hoo-do to me-he-he hehehahahaha?!" Thunderlane tried to shout through growing laughter.

"Simple. I just gave you and those around you a bit more joy in life," The Joker began to laugh alongside his victim, a sinister grin on his face. He watched Thunderlane's laughing grow harder and louder and quicker, to the point that he seemed to start suffocating.

"It's like my surgeon always said, 'if you gotta go, go with a smile!'"

The Joker's laughter joined in intensity with Thunderlane's, until the pegasus's began to wheeze and his voice began to die. Thunderlane's face steeled itself in a nightmarish grin, and his body went rigid and motionless.

The Joker cast a glance at the carnage and smiled, then turning his attention to the victims of his victims. Octavia was holding a hand tightly to Vinyl's neck, trying in vain to stop the river-like flow of blood.

"Move over, let Doctor J see what he can-," Joker was cut off by Octavia violently shaking her head, cradling Vinyl in her arms.

"Look, lady- well, you are a lady, right? Not some sort of weird alien?" Joker pointed to her face, "I mean, we don't really have vibrant purple eyes and grey skin where I come from."

The clown looked at the sky, "Actually, where even am I?"

He shook his head, almost like clearing his mind like an Etch-A-Sketch "Look, lady, if I wanted to hurt you two, you'd be laying on the ground with a big red smile. Now, let me have a look."

Reluctantly, Octavia moved aside as Joker stared at the deep cut with something akin to amusement.

"Aww, that's too bad...," Joker looked somewhat solemn.

"What do you mean?" Octavia asked, a hint of panic in her voice, "Is it fatal?"

Joker scoffed, "I wish. She'll live. What a bummer…"

Octavia felt a strong compulsion to hit the clown, but any such thoughts were drowned out by the sudden entrance of police sirens.

"Well, that's my cue to exit," Joker stood up and dug around in his pockets. "Look, if you get into trouble again, be sure to give me a call. Here's my card."

As the Joker ran off, Octavia looked at the same card that had been inside Thunderlane's arm.

The Joker whooped as he ran a small ways away from his latest playtime, his eyes meeting his beauty. The bright violet paint contrasted well with the tinted-windows, both contrasting with the pure white of the license plate.

"YSOSER1OUS" was the inscription.

The Joker threw open the door and landed in the plush velvet seating. The engine roared to life, and the purple lamborghini raced off into the night.

It reminded the Joker of a song, almost.

"They see me rollin,' they so serious," The Joker began to sing as he watched two police cruisers come into the view of his mirror.

"Bats is tryin' to catch me ridin' Harley," Two more.

"Tryin' to catch me ridin' Harley, tryin' to catch me ridin' Harley," The Joker's laughter rang out into the night as he sped away, six cop cars on his flank.

And fin! Well, that was a pretty lengthy chapter wasn't it? Be sure to fav, follow, and review, and I'll see you guys next time!