The pain was almost unbearable now. Her heavy breathing made it all the more obvious she was struggling, but she tried to ignore it the best she could. Straightening herself up, Applejack did her best to steady herself and get her front hooves back into position.

"I really think we should stop now. You'll be too hurt to try again tomorrow," stated Rainbow Dash, one of Applejack's greatest friends, along with one of her greatest rivals. Applejack spit what appeared to be blood, and shook her head in an affirmative denial.

"No. One more time. I'll get you here," she asserted. Rainbow merely shrugged her shoulders, as if to say "Hey, I tried," before lining up in the same position as the mare across from her. They both stared each other down, waiting and predicting if the other would start the match off.

Applejack lashed out first, going down on her front hooves and striking hard and fast with her back hooves. This was caught by Rainbow, who shoved them to the side and followed up with a hoof jab on the prone Applejack. It connected with brutal force, and Applejack cried in pain; this process repeated numerous times before Rainbow Dash let up, looking down upon her friend. Applejack was panting harder than she had been all night, holding her side and muttering expletives under her breath along with it.

"You're giving me all you have in an instant. Martial Arts is, well, an art, and you have to be patient; something I'm not known for being good at, I know, but it makes the difference between being on the floor and standing at the end of a battle," explained Rainbow. She held out her hoof to her fallen friend, who gratefully accepted it.

"You can't just start punching and kicking blindly," said Rainbow after yanking her off the ground. "This is about calculation. You need to know your opponent better than you know yourself, if that makes sense. You need to study and understand the other's movements, so that you may strike with knowledge, rather than sheer brute force."

"That's incredible, Rainbow. I didn't know you were thinking so much about this," Applejack replied. Rainbow gave a short chuckle before beginning to walk back to her house with Applejack in tow.

"It's copied verbatim from my instructor, but I'll take the compliment anyways. You still up for this whole thing, Applejack? We don't have to do this," Rainbow stated. It was Applejack's turn to smile.

"Don't you worry, Rainbow. I'll be back."

"You're zoning out again, Miss Applejack."

A few blinks brought Applejack back into reality. Her martial arts training with Rainbow Dash was vigorous, but it certainly paid off; she was now an expert in Muay Thai and the self defense technique of Krav Maga, thanks to Rainbow, who had showed her everything she learned as soon as she got back from her classes in the martial arts. While Rainbow Dash held a blackbelt in both those styles, Applejack was never officially trained, but Dash had remarked numerous time that she was on par with her every time they spared. On top of all this, Applejack also learned Equestrian Boxing from her brother, who briefly fought in a few matches once he graduated.

At the time, Applejack believed she would be needing all this for protecting herself, and to prevent her death had she ever found herself in the same situation as her parents, but it would be implemented now for a completely different purpose; a purpose that would do good for the people of her town for years to come.

"I'm sorry, Mosely. What was it we were doing, again?" asked Applejack.

"I believe you wanted to test the grappling hook, Miss Applejack," replied Mosely. Suddenly, the device was in the air, and Applejack only realized it at the last second; her attempt to catch it was laughable, and Mosely Orange did, indeed, laugh as it hit the hard floor with a clank.

"If you wish to become the terror of Ponyville, you'll have to be better than that," said Mosely.

Applejack let off an eye roll before reaching down and picking up the tool. She held it up to the light for a brief moment, and slipped it onto her wrist; she could feel the powerful device lock tight.

"This is what's called a Grapnel Gun, designed to carry a pony with heavy militarized equipment or two ponies lightly equipped. So, all in all, about six-hundred pounds. The gun is wrapped around the ankle of a front hoof of your choice, shooting from the topside of the front leg for easy aiming. You gotta be standin' up to fire the thing, as it requires whatever hand you ain't usin' to press the button to launch it. It doesn't hook like a traditional grappling hook, but instead has four outward prongs that'll clamp to any hard surface, as opposed to hooking on to it. I was plannin' to mass produce these for work in the field once the deal fell through, so I got three of 'em, but I'm real proud of 'em," her brother explained.

"Can it hold you with gear on?" Applejack asked. After all, her brother was known all around Ponyville for being well above average in terms of build and height.

"Unbelievably, yea, it can, though I still don't know why you're taking interest in all of this stuff anyways-" began Big Mac, before being promptly cut off by his sister with her hoof.

"I'll tell you eventually, you have my word. For now, I'd like to keep looking at everything. What is this over here?" Applejack asked.

After retrieving the grapnel hook from the ground, Applejack looked up to the ceiling to observe her surroundings.

Applejack had always known there was a cave system right around her house area. It was reportedly wide and vast (she hadn't actually been in it until now), and she had been mulling over whether or not to turn it into a homeless shelter or an area for domestic abuse victims seeking refuge from their partners. While she felt bad, she knew it was the perfect place to operate from with her upcoming identity, and felt that she'd be doing better for the city using it to help fight crime rather than using it to avoid crime.

Due to the vastness of the cave, there were plenty of ledges and areas on the ceiling; those areas were where she would test out the grapnel hook for the very first time.

Finding a perfect ledge of little far away, Applejack rose her right front hoof in the air and closed her left eye, aiming for the ledge. She slowly stood up, and she brought her left hoof over to rest on the button to fire. Feeling confident, she pressed the button to launch the hook, and that was when absolutely everything went wrong.

To begin, she saw she had misjudged her positioning. Instead of aiming just below the edge, as she had planned, the hook dropped and landed about five feet below where she had originally intended it. Applejack didn't think it was too much of a problem, until she lurched forward and realized that she was going much faster than anticipated. She had no time to react as her flying body slammed into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. On top of that, she still had her hand resting on the button to the grapnel gun, and upon impact her hoof forced itself back onto the button, causing the hook to detach; as a result, she took what looked to be a dangerous fall. Thankfully (but not really), Applejack's long fall was broken by other rocks on the way down. She hit the ground with a devastating thud, and let off a load moan in response to her now cut and bruised body.

"Celestia, Miss Applejack! Are you OK? Did you break anything?" asked Mosely, running up to Applejack as fast as he could. Slowly but surely, Applejack got up, and inspected her body; she was marked all over with countless cuts and bruises, but that was just about it.

"Incredibly, no," she replied, an obvious strain in her voice. "Big Mac didn't tell me it would go that fast."

"I believe it is for armored ponies, Miss Applejack. The plan was to don your Brother's alloy armor before you tested out the grapnel, in order to more fully simulate actual conditions. That would certainly slow it down a bit, but it doesn't quite make up for your aim, however. Dreadfully sorry about that," said Mosely. Applejack stared at him for a second longer before promptly giving herself a face hoof.

"I'll go put the armor on," she said, the annoyance in her tone clearly evident. She could almost feel her uncle's smile burning into the back of her head behind her as she walked away.

"This is the armor I was commissioned to build for Equestria's armed forces. They couldn't get the hang of fighting in it, as they were so used to the way traditional armor affected their combat skill, so they decided not to use it. It's created from an alloy I designed myself, called Nomex, mixed with the finest fabric from Rarity's Boutique. The armor, though more like a suit, has fifteen micro-layers of fabric, which creates a shock absorbin' effect to add more resistance to blows," Big Mac explained. Applejack let out a whistle.

The armor was sleek black, and it almost seemed to shine in the dim illumination the room provided. It encompassed an entire pony, including the head; there was a cowl that seemed detachable fused onto the suit, which seemed to encompass half the face, and gave room for a pony's ears. The eye sockets were rather small, and seemed to only give just enough room for the eyes to fit in; Applejack didn't particularly mind.

"Impressive," she stated. Her brother smiled.

"That ain't it, little sis. There are two other features I pride myself on when it comes to this thing. The first one is that, if extremely threatened and in a dire situation, the suit has a last resort mechanism that sends out 20,000 volts of electricity coursing through it. This won't cause pain to the wearer of the suit, but it will cause a mighty shock, both literally and figuratively, to an enemy soldier. Secondly, ya see that big symbol in the center there?" asked her brother, holding the armor up with his his hooves. Applejack could clearly see a symbol of their Princess Celestia engraved in the center.

"I do. Why, does it do anything special?" asked Applejack.

"You betcha! That symbol is the most armored part of the suit, and most magic and projectiles fired at it won't do much harm. Ya see, the symbol draws the attention of the enemy, and when they fire at it, they won't be doin any damage. Neat, huh?" explained Big Mac. Applejack bent down to inspect it further, running her hoofs across the fabric.

"Yes, it is. Could we fashion that into a different image?"

Applejack came back into the cave, her new armor upon her for the very first time.

The ear slots in the cowl had been modified to more resemble bat ears, the slots elongated and pointed significantly sharper. On top of that, the right ear was fitted with an antenna that served as a two way communicator that went back to Mosely, and the left ear was fitted with a warning beacon that would go back to the Manor if she was ever in significant trouble.

The cowl had also been fitted with another one of her brother's inventions that was meant to fit in glasses; a so called "tactical mode". This allowed Applejack to see the heat signatures of her enemies, and possibly items they may be holding, through walls. However, her brother had warned her that it may become unreliable, as heat signatures can be "forged", as he called it, by skilled magicians and manipulators, so she knew to use it wisely.

Finally, the cowl was lined with a very small amount of lead all the way through. If a magic user tried to look through her cowl by way of spell, they would come up empty handed, as they would not effectively be able to see through the cowl. This precaution was slightly uncomfortable to Applejack, but she believed it to be an extremely necessary implement.

"My goodness, Miss Applejack...you do look frightening. I see you and your brother were also able to fashion the center symbol as you wished," Mosely stated. Sure enough, a bat insignia stood across her chest, and Applejack looked down to admire it, moving side to side and watching it glint and shimmer in the light.

"Yes, it does look menacing," she said, though not in her voice. This voice was much lower, and lost its Canterlot accent for a more neutral and subtle Ponyville accent. Mosely joked that she sounded like a love interest in an old black and white noir film, which Applejack believed was fine; as long as it sounded menacing and disguised the fact that she was Applejack, the famed billionaire and owner of Apple Enterprises, it would work just fine.

"Before you try the grappling hook, your brother sent in one more thing," Mosely stated. Walking over to Applejack, took what looked to be some sort of black cloth and pinned it to her back. Applejack only realized what it was when Mosely stepped away.

"A cape? Is that needed?" asked Applejack, turning back to observe the new edition.

"Your brother told me in the letter it came with that the cape is meant to disorient your enemies. When you're fighting and moving, your foes will find it hard to discern whether their aiming at you or your cape, causing combat to be much difficult for your enemies and much easier for you," explained Mosely. After expecting it for just a few more seconds, Applejack nodded in agreement.

"You'll also notice that your suit comes fashioned with a utility belt," Mosely explained. Applejack looked down and, sure enough, a grey utility belt hung around the middle of her body.

"The belt comes with a few other surprises, your brother made sure to mention. You have what he dubs "batarangs", which are, well, bat shaped boomerangs. They are meant to subdue enemies, as well as provide distractions and hit unreachable areas. Aside from that, you also have six IED's that can be used to open inaccessible areas. You ONLY have six, so use them wisely for the meantime, as I'm sure you can get a refill eventually. Finally, the belt comes with smoke pellets that can allow you to disorient your enemies and position yourself onto vantage points to get an edge over your foes," Mosely explained.

Sure enough, all this was in Applejack's utility belt, and she took each one out and inspected them thoroughly. The "batarangs" felt perfect in her hooves, and the IED's seemed simple and easy to use, as did the smoke pellets. Applejack shook her head and let out a nervous laugh.

"I'm honestly a little overwhelmed by all of this, but...it's what I want to do. Okay, here we go," said Applejack.

Once again aiming her grapnel gun (this time correctly, she made sure), Applejack shot towards the ledge she tried to reach earlier, accounting for the drop she had experienced the first time she fired it. While still fast, it was a little bit slowed down due to the armor, but controllable as a result. Safely and (almost) soundly, Applejack landed on the ledge she was aiming for. She could hear Mosely clapping from down below.

Speaking of Mosely, thought Applejack as she brought her hoof up to the side of the cowl. Pressing a small button near where the bat ears began, Applejack's vision changed dramatically. A majority of the room became blue, save for a few key objects; a computer system running that she had set up in the cave, and Mosely Orange himself. Their heat signatures glowed a bright yellow-orange, making them easily stand out.

"My goodness, Miss Applejack. Your eyes turn an eerie white when you do that; a little unsettling, I'll admit," Mosely remarked.

"Good," replied Applejack, as she swung to the next ledge.

It took a bit getting used to, but Applejack kept practicing. After about three hours, she was successfully able to swing from one ledge to another at a smooth and fluid rate, as well as landing silently as opposed to the clumsiness she had been experiencing on the touch-downs earlier. She also worked on activating her tactical mode much quicker, and without making any noise whilst hitting the button.

She also got used to her bothersome tail, which was tucked next to her back right leg; there was no room for it in the costume, and didn't want anyone to see it, lest they could figure out her identity, and it would likely get in the way during combat. She thought the suit was absolutely perfect, but there was still one more addition she needed to make. Hoping down from her ledge, she trotted over to Mosely and slowly began removing her suit, piece by piece.

"I need you to send this back to my brother. Tell him that I want my whole mouth area completely covered, but that I still want to be able to speak very clearly; no muffling. Finally, ask him if there's a way to make my eyes white like they are during tactical mode all the time. It seems like it does good in making me seem more frightening, and I don't want anypony doing an eye scan on me. I also want it to be compatible with stealth, so don't make it really reflective. Got all that?" asked Applejack. Mosely nodded in an affirmative.

"One last thing, Miss Applejack. When is it you are planning to first become the Batmare?" asked Mosely, taking the suit and beginning to fold it.

"I'm going out to meet with the girls tomorrow. Gossip is rampant, so I'm sure they'll have a lead I can pursue. If they don't, I'll pick up the Planet and see if they broke any stories on anything around the area. So, to answer your question, tomorrow night. Tomorrow night...I'll make my mark on this city. My real mark," explained Applejack. Mosely nodded.

"Very well, Applejack...You seem driven by this course of action. You go back to the manor; I'll make preparations for the suit to go back to your brother and then I'll meet you there. One more thing, though, Applejack," said Mosely. Applejack had been ready to walk out of the cave, but, she turned around slowly. "Yes, Mosely?" she asked.

"Come back," he said.

Author's Notes:

Alone I am 24th, with a friend I am 20. Another friend and I am unclean. What am I?