Equestria Girls: Justice League

Chapters

Prologue
Research And Discoveries
A Chat With Lex
Rainbooms, Meet Bruce Wayne
A World In Mourning

Prologue

"... Just a feeling."

That was all the answer he had given Diana on that day, the same day the world had grieved their saviour by great monuments whilst Lois Lane had grieved the love of her life by a simple grave in Smallville.

Bruce Wayne didn't quite understand why he hadn't told the truth to the amazon back then. Diana had simply asked why the extraordinary people of the world would have to fight. It had been a perfectly valid question, and Bruce had a... somewhat concrete answer.

Perhaps it all came down to the fact that, even now after Clark's death, the ragged vigilante of Gotham City still didn't truly trust anyone, even reclusive amazons like Diana whom he had fought side by side with. He might've learned that Men can be good, but that didn't mean that they all could be trustworthy. After 20 years in the most crime-ridden city on Earth, he should know.

Another possible reason was that, maybe deep down, he was afraid that she would not believe him. Hell, there were times were he didn't really believe it, either.

Thoughts like these plagued the man's mind as he sat by one of the Batcave's many computer screens. Bruce was leaning forwards, chin restin on his steppled fingers while his tired eyes observed the same four files over and over again. He was feeling sore in a few places, but ignored it in favour of immersing himself in his research in order to unwind a bit. The musty air of the cave did wonders for his sweaty scalp.

It had been another long night for Gotham's caped cruisader. A night spent solving Nigma's sick puzzles, tracking Cobblepot's latest less than legal business transactions, and hospitalizing a number of low-life criminal scum. All in all, nothing out of the ordinary.

What also wasn't out of the ordinary was how his fateful friend and butler wordlessly walked up and placed a silver tray on the desk, balancing a much needed cup of steaming black coffee and a midnight snack. Bruce briefly glanced sidelong, reverie temporarily broken.

"Thank you, Alfred." he acknowledged tiredly, but nonetheless appreciative as he eagerly brought a cup to his lips and took a sip of the expertly made coffee before returning his attention to the screen. As for the butler, he simply remained standing there, looking unsure if he should say anything or just move on.

"... Master Wayne," Alfred finally started with a sigh, using that same mix of an exasperated and lecturing tone Bruce had been hearing ever since he was a child. "I have long since accepted the fact that you will most likely never lie down in a bed and sleep at a reasonable hour ever again-"

"Really, Alfred?" Bruce asked wryly, a small and rare smirk dancing on his lips, "You've accepted it?"

The old butler shrugged unapologetically, "I never said I had to like it."

That got a barely audible snort out of the grizzled billionaire as he continued to sip his coffee. But Alfred looked far from amused, instead looking almost concerned for the last living Wayne.

"But, nonetheless, I can't help but wonder why you spend hours upon hours observing the same footage of these same...unique individuals. Surely you've seen everything there is to see at this point?"

Whatever small amount of levity that Bruce had felt abruptly disappeared, a frown on his face as he put down his cup. It looked as if he was staring at the screens, but Alfred knew better. His not-so-much-young master was lost in a particular grim thought.

"... I meant what I said at his funeral, Alfred." There was no need to specify whose funeral he was refering to, "The special people of the world need to stand united, now more than ever."

"But why this sudden obsession with recruiting?" the butler couldn't help but ask, "You've been a one-man act ever since..."

Alfred abruptly cut himself off, the words dying on his tounge as a tense silence settled over them both. It was as if a storm had passed over Bruce's face, his eyes and scowl dark while his powerful fists clenched at his sides.

Had Alfred slipped up like this a five years ago, then all Hell would have broken loose. But Bruce liked to think that he had let himself move on. So instead he chose to clench his eyes shut and breath in and out to calm himself down, knowing that the pent up rage, sorrow and guilt would do neither him or his old friend any good.

Having soothed himself, he opened his eyes and could see in the corner of his eyes how remorseful Alfred looked, and felt any remaining rage melt away. Swallowing, Bruce instead decided to answer his butler as calmly as he could.

But both of them made a clear point of not looking over at the worn, beaten and defiled old uniform on display in the cave.

"Clark changed everything, Alfred." Bruce's eyes were misty, recalling the his experiences with the Kryptonian, "His arrival, his actions, but his death most of all." he turned around, properly facing the old butler with a tense, yet detemined look. "This world needs protectors... The next general Zod or Doomsday won't be beaten by some old man dressed like a bat alone."

"Master Wayne... Bruce," It was one of those rare moments in his long life where Alfred Pennyworth felt to be at a loss as to what he should say, "Superman was-"

"More human than I could ever hope to be." Bruce finished grimly, turning away and focusing back on his many computer screens, pointedly ignoring the disappointment of the old man's face.

"I failed him in life, but I will not fail him in death." his voice grew lower, darker as he returned his attention to the files he had stolen from Luthor, watching over the extraordinary footage as he had done so many times over these last few weeks. He still couldn't look away from the most mysterious one, the video with the mutilated body and that strange, shifting box.

"... Something is coming, Alfred." He revealed after a small bout of silence between the two. It was not a fact Bruce was particularly happy to think about, but it was a fact nonetheless. "I don't know what, and I don't know when, but Earth won't stand a chance as things are now."

Alfred's lips thinned, "But, with all due respect, sir: How can you know this?"

Bruce once again went silent, not sure as to just how he should answer that relatively easy question.

There were plenty of factors that had made him so determined to unite the right people, and a damn good reason for how he knew that something would be coming sooner or later.

His visiting Luthor was perhaps the most telling one, the deranged little weasel's promises of a bell being heard across the stars, and that 'they' had heard it... Informing everything that was out there in the vast and unexplored cosmos that Earth had just lost its greatest defender and was ripe for the picking.

And the bell could not be unrung, as Luthor had been so eager to tell him.

And yet, there was one dream, a vision of some sort, that Bruce couldn't shake off his mind no matter how hard he tried. By all rights he should've just dismissed it as some crazy dream caused by sleep deprivation. He was no stranger to those, after all.

But no, this dream had been different, and not in a good way.

Unlike most of his dreams, he could remember every little detail of it as if it had been any other bizarre event in his, admittedly, bizarre life. It had been the night of Lex Luthor's little cocktail-party, when he had presumably fallen asleep whilst encrypting the meta-human files.

At first he had been haunted by visions of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, filled with nothing but waste, destruction, demons... and an evil Superman. And if those images hadn't been disturbing enough, once he had thought that he had woken up, it had gotten even stranger and all the more disturbing...

It was quite a shock for Bruce to have thought that he had escaped from another nightmare, only to find himself face-to-face with something even more unnerving.

For right there, in his cave, in his desk, there was a great blast of lightning and... rainbows?

Yep, of all the things that could've spontaneously appeared in his lair, it was a vortex of some kind coloured in all the colours of the rainbow, spreading colourful and flickering lights all over the grey innards of the batcave.

But Bruce wasn't too focused on the colour-scheme, moreso he focused on the unstable looking vortex flickering about. The man could only sit back in his chair, feeling light and wind just eminating from the strange phenomenon, papers on his desk blowing away in all directions.

It was as if Bruce's usually highly analytical and capable mind had been short-circuited, for all he could do was continue to stare as... as a human-looking figure began to appear in the energized storm.

It looked almost like a robot, made up of a metallic, dark blue body with energy lines with the rainbow's colours coursing through them. While it was hard to get a look behind it, there seemed to be two appendages sticking out, also armored, almost looking like a pair of wings. Bruce couldn't help but notice that it looked beat up, colour fading and wicked scratches all over the thing, as if it had been through a warzone of some kind.

And yet, it was all very hard to tell. To Bruce, the figure almost looked as if it were simply a vague shape made out of fire or a glitching computer-visual, constantly flickering and glitching about as if it were unstable, as if it didn't belong in this reality.

“BRUCE!" The sudden voice must've come from the mysterious figure, and Bruce himself was too stunned to even begin to question how this... whatever it was knew his name. It wasn't a voice he recognized. All he could tell that it sounded like a female. A young female, early twenties at most. The voice was already raspy, and it wasn't made any better with how it screamed in utter desperation, pleading for Bruce to, "LISTEN TO ME NOW!"

It turned out that it wasn't a robot, after all, as the featureless vizor lifted upwards, revealing the figure's face to Bruce. Or at least, most of it.

The woman, for Bruce was at least sure of that, was wearing a black mask covering parts of her upper face, but he could still take notice of her obviously cyan skin, though that too seemed to be marred by all manners of scratches and scars. Her eyes were a fine shade of magneta, but their beauty was tarnished because of how they were wide and scared, alit with not only pain, but desperation. Bruce felt as if she starred into his very soul.

Her voice, much like her entire body, seemed to shift and glitch, echoing in an unatural and haunting way as she screamed at him, "IT WAS LOIS! LOIS LANE! SHE’S THE KEY! BARRY HE-" A pained expression briefly crossed her face before she shook it off, "BARRY SENT ME!"

None of those names meant anything to Bruce. For while he knew Lois Lane was a Pulitzer-price winning reporter at the Daily Planet and appeared to worship the Man of Steel, that was all he knew about her. And as for Barry... He wasn't sure he had ever even met a Barry.

The confusion must've been evident on his face, as the woman gained a similar expression, before it was shortly replaced by one of realization and of panic, "WAIT… A-AM I TOO SOON!?"

Bruce couldn't have answered even if he had wanted to. Right after she had asked this, there was a particularly violent flicker, making it almost look as if the woman had completely faded out. She let out a bloodcurling, pained scream that was made only worse through the otherworldly echo.

"DANG IT, I’M TOO SOON!" It almost sounded as if the woman wanted to cry, the pure regret and helpless rage in her tone one that Bruce himself had used before. But she then seemed to shake it off, once again focusing those hardened magneta eyes at the seated vigilante. "LISTEN! YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT HIM! ABOUT HER! FEAR THEM BOTH!"

The voice began to grow weak, the flashing rainbow-portal seemed to flicker away and fade, and the armored woman fading along with it. Bruce could only partly hear what it yelled out to him next, but every last syllable was edged into his memory, "THE TEAM… -IN CANTERLOT! … -UESTRIA!"

Shortly thereafter, the rainbow-vortex looked as if it was colapsing in on itself. All the light and the flickering figure disappearing into one singular and flickering ball of light, yet the voice still screamed out one final message and plead:

"FIND US, BRUCE! YOU HAVE TO FIND US!”

Then the ball of light had imploded, and Bruce Wayne woke up at his desk, desperatly catching his breath as his computer bleeped in the background, signaling the finished encrypting of Luthor's files.

"Master Wayne?" Alfred's inquiry managed to snap Bruce out of the bizarre memory, and the vigilante realized that he must've simply sat quietly on his road down memory lane.

He spared a brief glance up at his fateful butler, the old man which had stood by his side all his life looking at Bruce much like a conscerned father would. There were a precious little amount of things that he had never told Alfred, even after all these years of fighting crime.

Still, he kept his mouth sealed tight, keeping this disturbing vision to himself, not so sure as to why. He still feared, or rather hoped, that it had all just been an elaborate dream, set upon him by his then growing paranoia and overall fear of Superman.

Yet there was something about the desperation of that woman's plea, how she had begged of him to find them, whoever 'them' might be... Bruce couldn't help but feel that it fit oddly well with what he had now set on to do. But that could've simply been a coinsidence. Dreams are fickle things, after all.

So why couldn't he stop thinking about one of those words he had managed to pick up from the faded and scrambled echoes? A word that, for whatever reason, seemed to have inptrinted itself into his subconscious, making it pop up in his head every now and then:

'Canterlot'

He couldn't deny that it sounded familiar. Shaking his head, Bruce decided that he could always look up the word tomorrow, but not at the moment. He had more work to do, he thought as he began to type away on the keyboard. He needed to find these people.

Realizing that he still hadn't answered Alfred, who now started to look concerned, Bruce decided once again to avoid speaking directly of Luthor's ominous words, and of the haunting dream that just wouldn't stop eating away at his mind.

Letting out a small sigh, Bruce didn't look at Alfred as he answered, telling his old friend the same lie he had told Diana. His words were barely above a whisper, yet they echoed like a taunt in the dephts of the cave,

"... Just a feeling."

Research And Discoveries

Despite being the CEO for a corporate giant like Wayne Enterprises, Bruce never did care much for business meetings. All the sitting, the talking, the bloodsucking leeches also known as shareholders scrounging after his money, it all proved to be rather boring.

These days there were rarely as good of a feeling as returning to the desolent lake house after a long day at Wayne Tower. Having parked the Mercedes, gone inside and grabbed himself a scone from the kitchen, Bruce had wasted no time in taking the hidden elevator down to the Batcave, the one place on earth he actually didn't mind sitting still in for hours on end.

Stepping out of the elevator, Bruce took a moment to simply enjoy the soothing silence and musty air of his lair, the lone sound of the surrounding water and occasional flapping of batwings being like music to his ears after a day of having to put up with endless chatter from various assistants, interns and the like.

"Ah, Master Wayne." The familiar voice of Alfred greeted him from across the cave, the voice coming from the lab-section, "Could you come here for a moment, sir? I believe I've found something you would like to see."

Interested, Bruce swiftly trudged into the lab, finding Alfred occupying one of two chairs, sitting infront of a great deal of computer screens. His aged eyes were observing whatever was on them with an unreadable gaze as Bruce marched up to stand at his side.

"Another day at the office, I assume?" Alfred asked without having to look at Bruce who simply let out a grunt in affirmative.

"Is this urgent, Alfred?" he asked, "I'm heading over to Arkham soon."

The old butler momentarily broke his stare away from the screens, turning towards Bruce with an elegantly raised brow, "May I ask why, sir?"

"... I'm planning to interogate Luthor." It was something Bruce had been meaning to do for weeks now. There were a few things that Bruce felt needed to be cleared up between them, regarding both Superman and the hatred they had at one point shared for the Man of Steel.

As much as he loathed to admit it, he had wanted Clark dead just as much as Luthor, and he had almost let himself become a cold-blooded murderer because of that hatred. Luthor had simply stood on the sidelines, spewing gasoline into the raging wildfire that had been Bruce's anger towards the Kryptonian, and Bruce wanted to know why.

If Alfred was in any way concerned over his evening plans, he didn't show it. He simply curtly in acknowledgement, "I see." before turning back to the screens, "I do think that what I've found here will be worth your time, though. You remember how you briefly looked into that one city? Canterlot, I believe."

Bruce interest suddenly peeked. For just the night before his mind had once more been plagued by the haunting memory of that one vision. The blistering and cracking storm of energy in all the colours of the rainbow and that desperate, pleading voice echoing in an otherworldly way throughout his mind,

"FIND US, BRUCE!" The voice had pleaded, and wether intentionally or not, Bruce had indeed taken that plea to heart. But it was not the only phrase he remembered. One word, hard to make out, had been 'Canterlot'. He didn't know why he remembered, by all rights he should have dismissed it as the crazy ramblings of a paranoia-fueled dream.

And yet, the word would always end up echoing in his mind.

Last night, after having spent a good few hours looking through Luthor's files once more, he had felt a sudden curious urge within him and had therefore ended up looking up the word, not actually having expected to find anything.

For one of the rare times in his life, Bruce Wayne had been dead wrong.

As it turned out, Canterlot was in fact the name of a rather reasonably sized city right there in America, apparently founded by a high-class horse-breeder who had a passion for arthurian legend, hence the stupid name. Other than that, there had been nothing that really stood out about the place in a way that warranted any suspiscion, with the exception of its almost hilariously low crime rates when compared to other big cities.

After learning of the city, Bruce had almost completely dismissed his vision having any greater meaning, thinking that he must've simply heard or seen of the city before and his paranoid subconscious had done the rest. Of course, the fact that he had been very tired at the time didn't help matters.

That's exactly why he was so surprised that Alfred had apparently thought that there was something about the place of note. Realizing that he had simply been standing quietly for a few moments, Bruce cleared his throat and re-focused his attention on Alfred, "Yes. What about it?"

"Well," the butler started, typing away on the keyboard, "I took the liberty of digging a bit deeper as you simply scratched the surface in your sleep-deprived state." before the last Wayne could retort, Alfred looked up at him with a serious expression, "I believe I have struck gold, Master Wayne."

Bruce raised a brow, "How so?"

Using his revolving chair's wheels, Alfred scooted away slightly, gesturing as if inviting the other man to sit down with him. Bruce did just that, taking his seat in the other chair and turning his gaze towards the computer screens as his old friend explained away,

"I was browsing through some of the city's security footage, you know, as you do, and I found something rather peculiar." he typed some more before bringing up what looked like a large file, most likely containging footage, "This here file is comprised of a select few pieces of footage which stood out from the rest of their ilk, mostly because it appears as if someone has been trying to delete them or others like them numerous times."

He turned to Bruce with a serious look on his face, "My guess is that someone has been trying to cover their tracks."

Alright, that had some implications to it that Bruce did not like. At all. He kept his gaze on the file with a new glint of suspiscion in his eyes, "I take it you cracked it open, then?"

Alfred let out a noise that was almost a snort at that, asking sardonically, "Is the pope catholic?" Not expecting any response, he turned his attention back towards the screens and continued, "Though whoever attempted to hide this footage is certainly talented, it was nothing our systems couldn't handle. I've watched over the footage and... I suggest you see for your self."

Licking his dry lips, Alfred ignored Bruce's curious and slightly concerned look and instead clicked on the file which. This in turn brought up seven different sub-files of seven different short videos which began playing by themselves. Alfred had presumably arranged a play-list just for this occasion.

Bruce didn't know what this footage was or what exactly Alfred had scene to make him act like he was currently doing. Nonetheless, he intended to find out and therefore gave the footage from Canterlot City his undivided attention.

The first instance of footage started playing and appeared to have come from some sort of traffic-camera as it gave the two men a good view of a four-way crossing. It was marked in the corner of the screen as having taken place just about two months ago, so it was relatively recent.

For the first few seconds there was nothing of note, simply a few cars driving by and a handful of people walking along the sidewalks. Then suddenly a little boy, looking no older than five, ran into view and recklessly out on the road, chasing after a bouncing red ball he had presumably dropped, just as a speeding car came into the camera's view. Just as Bruce thought he would have to watch the boy get run over, it happened.

There was a streak of colours, the colours of the rainbow that sped into view and whizzed past the incoming car and where the kid had been standing. It was one of those things that if you would've blinked than you would have missed it. For just as soon as the streak had appeared it was already gone, and the kid was gone as well, the car speeding by without hitting anything.

And just as the streak of colours had disappeared, the child suddenly appeared on the other side of the street, red ball in hand and looking completely unharmed. Having appeared alongside him was a completely new figure. A girl who looked like she was in her teens, cyan blue skin, long hair in all of the colours of the rainbow and a pair of eyes that were magneta in colour.

Though there was no sound, it looked as if the girl leaned down and said some words, presumably of comfort to the child before she patted his head and walked away as if nothing had happened, leaving the child to be picked up and scolded by a woman who was presumably his mother.

Bruce was stunned, thousands of questions and possible answers already begining to form and roam about in his analytical mind. Not only that, but something about that girl felt awfully familiar, as if he had seen here somewhere before...

He saw flashes of rainbows. Of lightning. A ruined future with Superman as a malevolent dictator. Dark fires incenerating all that is good in the world. That agonized and desperate voice...

'FIND US, BRUCE!'

Shaking his head, the aged vigilante took a few slow and deep breaths, realizing that he felt a few drops of sweat forming on his face despite the surrounding cool air of the cave. Those were dreams. Hallucinations. They weren't real. They couldn't be real!

Having managed to calm himself down, Bruce blinked twice in succession before leaning in closer to the screen and whispered softly to himself, "What in god's name..."

Alfred simply sat there quietly, having had a very similar reaction himself the first time he had seen the footage. "Oh, there's far more than that, sir." he muttered as the next six pieces of footage started playing in succession, each one just as mind-boggling as the first.

The second video was also from a street, more specifically of a sidewalk as heavy rain fell down, dated to have taken place a few weeks ago. It showed a lone teenage girl with pristine white skin and a well-done purple hairdo dressed in an outfit that made it clear that she had not anticipated the rain. She was hurrying down the street just as a car sped past her, its wheels going through a rather large puddle which in turn made quite the splash which would have completely drenched the poor girl.

Keywords being 'would have'.

For as the girl brought up her hands as if to fruitlessly shield herself from the muddy street water, there suddenly materialized a glowing hexagonal-shape, looking very similar to a diamond, infront of her that took the splash in her stead. It faded out of existance shortly after as the girl lowered he arms. She looked startled, as if she had not meant for that to happen. Eyes darting around nervously, she then hurried out of the camera's view to heaven knows where.

The third video was dated just five days past and showed what looked like a traffic accident of some kind. A car had pulled over and a mutilated bike layed on the side as if it had been recklessly thrown there. Underneath the car was a man who was presumably the bike's owner, his right leg looking completely squashed as one of the car's front wheels were standing upon it.

The driver had stepped out and was fruitlessly attempting to lift off the heavy vehicle. Then there stepped in a lone blonde girl with light orange skin, freckles and blonde hair with a cowboy hat of all things, pulling up her sleeves and looking determined.

Without further warning, she had stepped up, bent down and heaved upwards, actually managing to lift one side of the car a bit upwards, thus allowing the momentarily stunned driver to pull out the unfortunate cyclist. Once the victim had for sure been freed, the car suddenly dropped and the girl retreated back out of the camera's view without further action.

The fourth had apparently taken place last month, displaying what looked like the view of the edge of a nearby forrest bordering on the city. It was the least remarkable out of all of them, though no less odd. For right there, partially hidden by the bushes, there stood a meek-looking girl with pale, yellow skin and long light-pink hair, her eyes darting about as if looking to ensure that no one was seeing her.

After a while, she brought her hand up towards her neck and did something Bruce could not exactly see. But shortly thereafter, all sorts of animals emerged from the trees and bushes. Racoons, skunks, birds, badgers, snakes, even a great bear! For a second Bruce thought he would have to watch the poor girl get mauled, but was all the more surprised once he saw how all the animals gathered round the girl in gestures that were almost tender-looking, the bear included.

The fifth was dated one month passed, showing what looked like a local basketball field on which different kids were throwing and dribbling the ball amongst themselves. Just as a bespectacled girl with lavender skin and dark violet hair with a light pink streak tied up in a pony tail walked by carrying a bunch of thick and heavy-looking book, one particularly beefy-looking white skinned boy threw the battle a little bit of course, causing it to head straight for the lone girl.

As if acting on reflex, the girl dropped her books and meekly put up her arms as if attempting to shield herself from the coming impact. Miracelously enough, just as the ball was about to hit her, it siezed all movement and instead froze in mid-air, looking as if it were enveloped in some manner of glowing, violet energy.

Much like a few of the girls before her, the bespectacled one quickly realized what had happened. Just as the realization dawned on her face the ball simply dropped to the ground unceremoniously, which then seemed to set her off as she quickly scooped down and gathered her books before hurrying away.

The sixth had taken place a few months past and showed the front of what appeared to be a café of some kind, apparently named 'Sugarcube Corner'. Out of the door stepped a pink skinned girl with hair in a darker shade of pink that could have only been described as poofy. She was carrying a tray of fine-looking pastries and her large, expressive blue eyes were alit in giddiness. Reaching into... her own hair, she miraculously enough pulled out what looked like a... sprinkle dispenser.

Wasting no time, the footage showed how she sprinkled it on the different sweets. If she noticed that the sprinkles had started glowing as she poured them on, she didn't show it. Shortly after she had done so, there was suddenly a pink cloud of an explosion right in her face. Once it faded it showed that the girl looked unharmed, her hair standing backwards and out akwardly.

Rather than being freaked out or worried at having pastries exploding in your faces or bothere that she now looked as if she had dough and frosting in all sorts of places, the girl's mouth instead opened in what Bruce guessed was laughter as she kept walking out of the camera's viewrange.

The final video showed the innards of a beatdown alleyway where several bums dressed in tattered remains of clothes gathered round a trashcan where a very poor excuse of a bonfire flickered about and looked as if it would extinguish at any moment. Out in the edge of the camera's view, yet another teenaged girl with orange skin and fire like hair walked passed, slowing down and gazing upon the pitiful sight.

There was a moment of hesitation, the girl's green eyes darting about nervously, before she appeared to simply wave her hand a little bit. The effect was instaneous. The trashcan bonfire which had previously looked fleeting and dying suddenly roared to life in a powerful, yet harmless burst. Though surprised, the bums were not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and instead bundled closer towards the new heat source, just as the fiery-haired girl ran away from the camera's range.

Bruce could only sit there and stare, much like he had done the very first time he had seen Luthor's files.

Breaking the silence, Bruce didn't even turn away from the screens when he, his voice sounding deadly calm, demanded of the man next to him, "Run facial recognition."

Alfred nodded dutifully and started typing away to do just that, "Right away, sir."

Shortly thereafter, they both had information regarding all seven of the girls, finding out that their names in order was Rainbow Dash, Rarity Belle, Jacklyn Smith (nicknamed 'Applejack'), Fluttershy Breeze, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. Bruce had wasted no time in looking over all available information regarding them, searching for any possible clues to explain what he had just seen.

As he looked through it there was one particular girl that caught his interesst. While the others hardly had any noteworthy backgrounds and a few interessting achievements, one of them stood out.

"And finally, Sunset Shimmer." Alfred read aloud as he had done with the other six girls before. Displayed on the screen was an old newspaper article dated four years back, with a picture of burnt down wreckage that at one point could have been a majestic building. The headline read in bold letters;

SHIMMER MANSION BURNED DOWN!

As Bruce focused on the image, feeling a haunting sense of Deja Vú when thinking of his own family home, Alfred kept on going as he skimmed though the information, "Both mother, father and younger brother killed in a violent housefire with Miss. Shimmer as the only survivor four years ago, leaving her with a modest inheritance. She's currently residing alone in an equally modest apartment in downtown Canterlot."

Housefire, Alfred had said... Bruce remembered the footage, what that girl, Sunset Shimmer had done with a simple wave of her hand.

Shaking his head he decided that those thoughts were work for another time. He couldn't jump to conclusions, never again. Precautions and investigation, yes. But he would never act as he had done with Clark ever again. Besides, he felt a small sting in his heart, hearing that this poor girl had lost her parents much like he had.

"How long has..." Bruce struggled to find the words, before settling on simply pointing at the screens, "How long has that been going on?"

Alfred shrugged, "Not sure. However, I can tell that whoever attempts to hide the footage has only been doing so since as far back as the begining of this year's summer. I haven't been able to find any records of other strange incidents having taken place before this time-span."

Bruce was in deep thought, suspiscion in his eyes, "There must be some connection between them."

"Oh, there is." Alfred responded casually, "Not only do they all attend their Junior year at the same local high school, Canterlot High, but their social media activities seem to indicate that they are all rather close friends judging from all the silly pictures and updates they post. Oh, and they are part of a band called the," Alfred snorted softly, "'The Rainbooms' which have apparently gathered a bit of a following lately."

Whilst absorving that piece of information, the aged vigilante noticed another file Alfred had opened containing the links to a great deal of different articles from different news sources from Canterlot City.

Interested, Bruce clicked on the articles and before he knew it, his eyes were assaulted by different headlines, pictures taken quite a distance away from a building he presumed was Canterlot High while it was eminating what looked like a strange, colourful glow.

The articles said that the principal of the school, one Celestia Solaris, claimed in that the lights had been due to some impressive special effects work by her students in corelation to the finale of a school event called "Battle of the Bands". But Bruce saw from the footage that it couldn't be right. A lightshow like that he saw would have been hard for a master of special effects to pull off, let alone children.

His eyes were drawn to more reports Alfred had pulled up, indicating words of an explosion occuring at the school along with another strange lightshow, this time during an inter-school event called the "Friendship Games". This time the principal had simply said it was due to a freak accident with fireworks and an unfortunate gasleak. Bruce supposed he could've believed that.

That is, if it had not been for the fact that records showed that there was no gas pipes on the school grounds, let alone close to where the explosion had taken place.

Worrying was not enough to describe what was going through Bruce's head at this moment, suddenly looking ten years older. Seven possible metahumans in the same city, the same age, goes to the same school that is surrounded by mystic phenomena, are part of the same band, all of them apparently friends, all of them starting to display abilities at the same time... That was not a coincidence.

While Bruce was silent in contemplation, Alfred let out a small sigh as he began looking closer at the girls' adresses, "Well, I suppose you should start arranging some manner of job-interviews, then?"

Bruce shook his head, "No."

"Wha-" Alfred did a most un-gentlemanly double take, "What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean exactly what I'm saying." Bruce said adamantly, a grave look on his face as he rose from his chair with a sigh, "I'm not involving kids in this, Alfred."

The butler looked at him dryly, "Oh, I apologize." He did so incredulously, looking at the last living Wayne with a sceptic look, "Am I currently not speaking with the same man who has spent the last three weeks preaching of how the world's unique people needed to unite?"

"That was before I saw that these girls are not even out of High School!" Bruce rarely raised his voice, and Alfred was equally unprepared each time, jumping back only slightly. There was a hint of anger in his face as he pointed towards the reruns of the footage, "Should we research their abilities and capabilities? Absolutely... But bringing them into what could be coming, what the world could have to face, is out of the question!"

Alfred was simply quiet, allowing Bruce to vent out his frustration. There was a mist of recolation in Bruce's eyes as he spoke, but it was hardly that of pleasant memories. He gestured all around their surroundings, "When I started all of this it was for the exact reason that children should never have to suffer because of crime! Now you're telling me I should put the lives of seven high schoolers at risk!?"

Seemingly reeling in his frustration, Bruce took a few deep breaths, shaking his head before turning his back against the butler, not wanting to think of this any more for the day, "No. It's not happening, Alfred. We have Diana, and we have the others. I'm not pulling any more kids into this."

"... You're afraid, sir. I see it in your eyes" Alfred didn't know why he did it, what exactly compelled him to do something he knew full well could not end well. And yet, he had now risen from his own chair, pointing a finger that was almost accusing at Bruce, "You fear that if you do reach out to them, if you allow yourself to open that closed heart of yours..."

Alfred gulped softly, having to force the next words out of him slowly, as if saying them were causing him pain, "You fear that you may have to display more uniforms in this cave some day."

The words had an imediate effect as Bruce turned around fast enough one could think he got whiplash. He was staring at Alfred as if he had struck him, starting to breathe in and out slowly in a similar fashion to a vengeful beast ready to pounce. Alfred could see the rage building up within Bruce and braced himself for what was to come.

For a few moments, all was silent in the cave. A tense, thick, horrible silence reigned that allowed Alfred to hear his own rapidly pounding heartbeat as the two men simply stared at eachother. But eventually, words were said that cut through the silence like a knife.

“... How dare you use his death against me?” Bruce spoke slowly, his words barely above a whisper, yet they carried such an amotional weight with every syllable that left his lips. Though his face remained stoic, his eyes were now lit with a cold, unyielding fury. Alfred met the terrifying stare head on.

“I am using the truth, Master Wayne." As unpleasant as it was, it was the truth, nonetheless. Alfred knew full well that he had crossed a line, but it needed to be done if he were ever to get the last living Wayne to understand. Thus Alfred continued, pointing towards the screens with a serious look on his face.

"If we could find these children there is no doubt that others out there could as well, others with far less benevolent intentions than you." He was moving closer towards Bruce now, watching as the ragged billionaire had followed his finger, observing the footage with dark eyes and a doubtful expression.

Alfred did not enjoy this. In fact, he was probably feeling just as pained by these memories and facts as Bruce. But the old butler would not give in now, he couldn't. He could not allow Bruce to lose any more of his conviction than he already had, "Those girls are unprepared, unprotected, in spite of whatever abilities they might have. If you don't wish to involve them in whatever coming conflict you are always hinting at, then fine. Don't. But I cannot in all good consciense stand by and do nothing as you ignore people in obvious need of aid."

He now stood properly face-to-face with Bruce, meeting a cold and hard gaze that had terrified lesser men. Alfred did not back down, not this time. "I stood aside while you broke your own rules, Master Wayne. But no longer."

In a moment of tenderness, Alfred reached out and placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder, as he had done to a far younger Bruce on that terrible night all those years ago. He looked at the man infront of him with a kind expression, one that spoke of not only compassion, but of pleading, "Find it in yourself to open up, Bruce. If not for yourself, if not for them then do it..." he hesitated for just a second, but realized that he could not back down now.

"Do it for Jason."

The very name alone seemed to have a profound effect on Bruce, so many varying emotions displaying themselves on his face all at once as the memories and burried old feelings came rushing back. Alfred could see hints of sadness, anger, regret, frustration, and then finally:

Vengeance.

Without as much as a warning, Bruce forcefully shrugged off the caring hand, turning away sharply before Alfred could get a good look at his expression. The butler flinched slightly, watching despondently as his young master turned his back to him without saying a word.

So they stood for a few, tense moments, before Bruce abruptly started walking away fast, grabbing his cowel from one of the desks and keeping his front turned away from view, "I'm heading to Arkham to interrogate Luthor."

"Bruce-"

"This talk is over, Alfred." Bruce's tone left no room for discussion, still controlled but clearly reeling with not only anger, but guilt.

The butler could only look upon his young master's retreating back sadly, whispering, "So it is."

He remained as if frozen in that spot for quite sometime as Bruce presumably dawned his Batman atire once more. Eventually, Alfred heard how the Batmobile's engine roared to life and he could only watch despondently as it sped out through the cave's tunnel, straight out into the dark night. Once the echoes of the engine had faded, Alfred still felt almost numb, the words he had traded with Bruce having a greater affect on him then he thought.

Almost as if by some manner of auto-pilot, Alfred found his feet moving forward, taking him through the lone cave and its many different rooms. He did eventually come to a halt infront of a familiar sight. The damaged old uniform hung up and put on display as an everlasting reminder of what Bruce conscidered his greatest failure.

For when the boy had been with them, despite all the pain, all the trauma, Bruce had the slightest bit of hope. There were times back then Alfred would see glimpses of the same hope he had once seen in the eyes of a young Bruce Wayne. Batman had trained the boy, and the boy had kept Batman's demons at bay.

Robin had been Batman's hope. But just like so much else in Bruce's life, that, too, had been taken away.

By him.

Amongst all these dark thoughts, Alfred couldn't stop himself from remembering the person who had first worn the uniform, a small, sad smile appearing on his lips. "... I wish you were here, Master Richard." he whispered out into the cave's emptiness, "It was bad enough having to lose Master Jason, but when you..." the words died on his tounge, an inner sense of grief that was all too familiar starting to well up from within.

He cast one last, long look upon the defiled uniform, feeling as if a knife cut through his heart while his eyes wandered over the many bullet holes, tears and burnt away parts, along with the hideous, sloppily written message upon it forever taunting both him and Bruce.

Letting out a tired and mournful sigh, Alfred at last turned his gaze away from the sight, thinking that he did not want to stay in that cave another second longer. What he needed now was some strong whiskey, and lots of it.

Like so many times before, the old butler found himself thinking back to better times as he trudged up the stairs, heading up towards the sleek, yet soulless lake house.

He thought of the times when the Wayne Manor had stood tall as a symbol of the family's history, when the world had been so much simpler, the times when his young master had actually smiled for more than just fleeting moments.

Those were the times when Batman still had his Robin, and Bruce Wayne still had his sons.

Author's Note

Before anyone says anything;

Yes. Sunset has firepowers in this AU. Just so we're clear.

Can't expect to defeat Steppenwolf with just her touchy-memory powers, right?

A Chat With Lex

Jim Gordon liked his coffee black. After years of countless sleepless nights working for the police force in one of the most notoriously corrupt and crime-ridden cities on the planet, coffee was a far better addiction than some of the other stuff his colleagues had gotten themselves into to keep themselves awake.

He slurped down the dark liquid, feeling its almost scalding warmth running down his throat, then letting out a small but satisfied sigh once the cup had been empty. Gordon took a look around, even though he knew by no that there was not much to see in the dimly lit halls of Arkham Asylum.

The only reason he was there was because he had gotten word from his old vigilante acquiantance that wished to trade words with one of the inmates. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened. The only reason Gordon had to be there now and not be at home with Barbara was because after a certain incident a few years back, the Gotham Bat was no longer allowed to wander into Arkham without some manner of supervision.

Speaking of which, a portion of the room suddenly darkened, a few lights going out. A few seconds later, the Batman emerged soundlessly out of the darkness, his white, pupiless eyes almost glowing.

A couple of decades ago this would have almost made the old commissioner have a heart-attack. But after 20 years of these sort of theatrics, not only from the Batman but from every other lunatic in Gotham, it now earned the vigilante little more than a raised eyebrow and an unimpressed huff from the aged commissioner.

"You're on point as ever." Gordon's remark broke the silence, serving as a sort of greeting whilst he put down the now empty coffe mug, "I hope this is worth it. I'm missing taco-night for this."

The dark knight greeted the commissioner with a simple nod, for nothing else was needed between them after all these years. Not exchanging another word of greeting, the pair stated to walk down the desolent, dimly-lit corridor. They passed through many cells, some of them housing some of Gotham's most nutorious loonies. Batman kept his gaze forward and focused, even though a small part deep inside of him stung as he passed the cell-door marked with the name 'Harvey Dent'.

"Any updates?" he asked, his deep and filtered voice echoing in an unsettling fashion within the long and desolent hallway.

Gordon shrugged, gaze fixed straight ahead, "Nothing out of the ordinary. He's quiet, acts skittish, avoids direct confrontation with other inmates, mumbles in his sleep, the usual stuff." still walking, Gordon let out a small grunt as he remembered something, digging into his coat pocket and pulling out a neatly folded piece of paper, catching Batman's attention.

"He's taken quite a fancy to arts and crafts, though." he handed it over to Batman's gloved hands without breaking his front-facing stare. Curious, the vigilante swiftly unfolded it and got a look at what Luthor had been doing at Arkham.

It was a very well done drawing, Bruce had to admit. The shading, the proportions, it was all neatly handled. The drawing itself seemed to be of a man, looking sculpted like a greek god of legend. Tall, broad shoulders and muscles to match, it would have made an imposing figure should it have existed in real life. Chest bare, it only wore a pair of green pants, making its impressive stature stand out more. Its only feature that was distinctly non-human were its pointy ears. Its face was set in a stern and athoritarian scowl, looking ready to tear anything that opposed it to pieces.

"Think it means anything?" asked Gordon, none of the pair siezing their walk.

For all his detective skills, even Bruce was not sure as to what this could mean. It could be a harmless way pass the time within Arkham's walls. But then again, one could never know with Lex Luthor, "We'll see."

All further conversation was halted as the pair at last arrived at their destination. After their long walk down the hallway, they now stood infront of the final door, the one housing the maniac behind Superman's death. Batman's gloved fists clenched tightly at his sides, a grim expression on his face as his eyes read the name of the cell's occupant over and over.

Noticing this, Gordon let out a sigh, turning towards the vigilante with an expression that was part serious, part exasperated. "You know the laws about mistreating inmates. I don't want a repeat of what happened five years ago, no matter how angry he makes you."

Bruce didn't even simply acknowledge his words at first, his dark gaze fixed upon the door. But eventually, his fist unclenched and he spoke, the usually terrifying voice sounding almost somber, "I will never go that far ever again, Jim." Images of that time flashed in his mind.

Blood. Snapped bones. Broken teeth. That damned laugh taunting him from a broken, red mess of a mouth. And above all, the pure rage that had coursed through his veins that day, his inner demons feasting on his hatred and fueling his actions. The feeling of being rendered mentally powerless by his own monstruos anger was one Bruce would rather much avoid.

'Never again.' he vowed internally, 'Never again...'

Outwardly, Batman simply turned to Gordon and said, "I need to talk. Nothing more."

The aged commissioner just gave him a sceptical look, but eventually let out a defeated sigh, "See that you do." he told him before swiftly opening up the cell, allowing Batman a good look inside.

The cell was small and window-less, as expected from Arkham's regular care-package. There was little to no light, the only source of it being a lone lamp hanging from the ceiling, illuminating that which was directly under it. For right there, in the middle of the cell there was a lone desk with two chairs, one of which was occupied.

Time at Arkham had not been kind to Lex Luthor, that much was plain to see. Then again, Arkham wasn't exactly kind to anyone. He was looking far paler than ever before. And even though he had always been rather skinny, he was now looking downright gaunt, his hollowed features only made more clear through the light shining down upon his bald head. Dressed in the usual orange inmate clothes, he sat restlessly at the table, even though his eyes lit up in recognition and something else Bruce could not place as he saw the Gotham Bat standing in his cell door.

Sparing Gordon one last nod, Bruce stepped inside slowly, the sound of his boots being far louder than usual in the silent room. He heared the door closing behind him, leaving him alone in the viper's nest. Good, thought Bruce.

Luthor simply stared at the imposing vigilante in front of him, an unreadable expression whilst his eyes shone with malevolence. So they stood for a good few beats of silence, before the bald man's eyes were eventually caught by the little piece of paper held by Bruce. As soon as he saw it, his impassive face lit up with a smile, as if delighted seeing that Bruce had seen his artistic work.

“You like it?" Luthor's casual inquiry broke the silence, "Not my best work, of course. Then again, this loony bin has some limited art supplies."

Bruce didn't even dignify his words with a response, simply silently gliding over and swiftly taking the seat opposite of Luthor, who seemed to be in his own little world, drumming fingers on his chin in apparent though.

"I’m thinking of calling it... ‘Captain Amazo’!" He had announced the name like some grand hero from a children's cartoon, even putting up his arms in the classical Superman-position. Bruce was far from impressed, crunching up the paper in his gloved fist before dropping it carelessly to the floor, scowling down at Luthor all the while.

Luthor must have caught on, lowering his arms and waving them dismissivley, sounding almost fond as he said, "I know, I know. It’s sounds a bit corny. But, so does ‘Superman’, and everyone just loved him." It was impossible not to catch the sneer on Luthor's face or how his tone quickly turned bitter once he had mentioned the Man of Steel.

But it was quickly replaced by another little smirk as he turned to truly face his interrogator. Bruce hated the way Luthor smirked. It was as if he was always tittering at some big joke only he knew about... Not unlike some other unsavoury types Bruce had dealt with.

"Y'know," said Luthor to break the silence that had fallen over them, "I just remembered that I have yet to thank you. What happened that day couldn't have done so without you."

Bruce did not return the playfulness, his scowl in full effect as he glared down at the man that had caused such chaos over so little."You used me."

Luthor snorted, “Well, duh! You can’t expect to go to MY party in MY house, sneak into MY server room, get caught by MY assistant and steal MY encrypted files unless I want you to!” he giggled, a high-pitched and deranged little noise, “And they say you’re the world’s greatest detective?”

Bruce didn't have time for these games, and chose to instead get directly to the point. Giving Luthor a hard look, he asked, “Why did you do it?”

The bald man blinked, “What? You mean kill Superman?" he shrugged, eyes darting about as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "He was dangerous. Too much power, not enough control." A glint entered his eyes as he gave the masked vigilante an unreadable look, "You knew that, too.”

"I was wrong." It was not something he was proud to admit, but it was the truth. He had failed Clark, only seeing the dangerous threat he had wanted to see instead of seeing the goodhearted individual Clark had truly been. He stared hard at Luthor, daring him to contradict him, "He was a good man."

But Luthor simply snarled, a dismissive sneer on his lips, "He was NOT a man. He was a God, and he was certainly not good. Gods never are." He looked strangely dreamy for a moment, as if lost in some distant memory. All was quiet in the cell for just a short moment, before that infernal smirk returned.

"Mayhaps you have heard of the Epicurean Paradox, hm?" When Bruce simply remained silent, Luthor continued on in a very condescending way, like a dismissive adult to a child, "As I explained to Kal-El, I’ll explain it to you; If God is all good, then he cannot be all powerful. If God is all powerful, well, then he cannot be all good... And that goes for all those other metahumans out there.”

That quickly got Bruce's attention, his thoughts briefly returning to the footage he had seen earlier, the abilities those seven girls had displayed. He leaned in just a tad, the small gesture still giving him a more imposing presence. “You want to get rid of them?” He meant metahumans in general, of course. But Bruce couldn't help but think mainly of those kids.

"I have to." It sounded as if Luthor actually believed that, judging by the conviction in his tone and the serious demeanour he suddenly displayed. He knew that the man in front of him wasn't just some maniac doing things for the kick of it. No, Luthor was a maniac doing things because he always had a goal in mind.

"The protection of our world NEEDS to be in our own hands." He too leaned in closer, gesturing between the two of them as if to punctuate his point, "We can’t trust these aliens and amazons and whatever the Hell else might be out there!" Luthor seemed so unlike the chipper, eccentric sociopath Bruce has so often wanted to avoid at partys and the like. No, he sounded completely serious, as if he had given this a lot of thought.

"At one point or another, there will be a battle for the future of the human race! And I intend for the people of Earth to thrive so that when the time comes we can protect ourselves!" There was a clear drive and even fear in his tone, and the Gotham Bat would be lying if he had said it didn't unnerve him on some small level.

Bruce remained silent as he stared at Luthor, his thoughts going back to the metahumans of Canterlot. As much as he hated to admit it, Alfed had been right in that regard. There were people out in the world with far more sinister intents regarding the special people of the world, and one of them was sitting right in front of him.

What would Luthor have done had he found those girls as he had found the others? Would he have manipulated them as he had done with Clark, Diana and himself? Would he have made those children into more pieces in his sick little game of chess to overcome his hatred of god and powers beyond his control?

Whilst Bruce had been silent in thought, Luthor had taken this opportunity to speak up, now resting his cheek on one hand as he looked at the man sitting opposite of him with that same damn smirk. "You want to know the trouble with Gods, Mr. Man, hm?"

He recieved no response. Bruce just kept glaring darkly at him, but Luthor didn't seem to care, simply continuing,

"They don’t like it when we’re on their level, no no no." He gestured downwards with the palm of his hand, "We’re down here," he lifted that same palm upwards "They’re up there, because that’s comfortable for them. But the very minute you try to change that, the minute you try to even the playing field, things get messy."

It was the same in all the stories, all the myths and legends regarding big bearded people in the sky. If one dares rise against them, if one dares to challenge their established sense of order and hierarchy then your are doomed. As was the case with Lucifer, as was the case with Adam and Eve.

"Be it stealing some fire, eating an apple or building a tower. Suddenly, you’re the threat! You’re the sinner, simply because they deem it so!" A dark frown, almost pitying came to his face as he glared right back at Bruce, "It may not seem like it now, but sooner or later, the other so-called special people out there will turn on you, and you will be powerless to stop them."

He shook his head, looking away with misty eyes, as if he was lost in his own little sick mind once more, softly muttering with a twisted sense of determination, "No, what we need is a tower. One that will give us control over OUR destiny and OUR future." He looked back up at Bruce with an unreadable gaze, a dark and almost crazed look in his eyes, "And I intend to build it."

Bruce would never allow that, cryptic words aside, "I'll stop you."

“You shouldn’t." Luthor replied casually, "Because, I… I know you’ve seen it."

All was suddenly deathly quiet in the cell, the bald man's words having a profound effect on both men. Luthor's determined and serious demeanour vanished, instead replaced by an almost haunted look as his expression turned almost completely blank, the fires of madness dancing in his eyes in spite of the room's poor lighting. For Luthor still remembered what he had seen in the Kryptonian ship. What he had learned, whom he had spoken to.

He knew what was really out there in the deep dark of space. And in spite of his ego and pride, it was no understatement to say that it terrified him.

As for Bruce, his reaction was rather odd, even to himself. By all rights, Luthor's words shouldn't have rattled him at all, they were so vague that they could practically refer to anything. And yet, he couldn't hinder the mild shudder that went through him whilst his mind wandered to the dreaded images he had seen so many times in his nightmares.

And somehow, just by looking into those cold and haunted eyes of Luthor, Bruce knew that he had seen something similar.

He was brought out of his macabre musings as Luthor let out a strange sound, somewhere in between a sob and a laugh. "You see, Mr. Man," He leaned in closer, whispering with an unstable smile and crazed look, "All these, uh, old Gods, are gonna look like nothing once the New Gods arrive."

Once more there was a shift, as Luthor's expression turned blank whilst he stared defiantly into the opposing dark gaze, "It’s gonna take more than the army and the Batman to stop it.”

For a while Bruce was quiet, his scowl only deepening as he thought over Luthor's words. He remembered when the mutant abomination had been let loose upon the world, how overwhelmed he had felt at its pure power. It was only when he had let go of his rage, of his fear, and accepted the help of Clark and Diana that the monster had been slain.

Luthor was right. Whatever would be coming in the future, Bruce couldn't stop it.

Not alone.

"We'll stop them." He therefore vowed in a deep growl, and Bruce honestly didn't know if those words had been meant for Luthor or for himself.

“Oh?" Luthor raised an inquisitive brow, looking highly amused. Though there was an undeniable distain in his voice as he asked, "It’s ‘We’ already, is it?”

With nothing but a stiff nod in response, Bruce then swiftly rose from his chair, his cape billowing as he sharply turned around and headed towards the cell door. He dismissed Luthor with a grunt of, "We're done here."

But Lex Luthor was not a person that let himself be dismissed easily, a mix of a sneer and a smug smile dancing on his lips as he called out the the retreating vigilante, "Do you honestly think this place will hold me?”

The Bat froze in his tracks just in front of the door. After a beat he turned around, looking impassive as he scowled at Luthor, "Perhaps. Perhaps not." He acknowledged, causing the bald man to smirk. But it quickly died once the Batman gave him a small smirk of his own, "What I do know is that the moment your greasy little feet step out of these gates, I will be there to put you right back where you belong."

Without another word, Bruce turned around and exited the cell, leaving a curious and vexed Lex Luthor in his wake. As he stepped out and swiftly shut the door, he saw Gordon leaning against the wall, giving the Bat a raised bushy brow, "I didn't hear any cries of agony or pleas for mercy... So I'm guessing you handled it like a pro?"

Bruce almost snorted. Almost, not quite. Instead he simply nodded to the old commissioner, walking away down the hall with a new sense of purpose in mind, "I got what I needed."

With that done, Bruce gave Gordon a nod in farewell before swiftly making his way out of the Asylum, easily slipping into the darkness of the night once he got outside. Wasting no time, he practically jumped into the securily parked Batmobile and reved the old vehicle up, its engine roaring like a beast out into the quiet night as it sped away.

Whilst the darkened surroundings flew by his view, Bruce brooded in deep though whilst he drove towards the cave. He thought of Luthor's words, that crazed look in his eyes whilst he had spoken fanatically of why he believed metahumans needed to be taken out of the equation.

And with those memories his thoughts inevitably wandered back toward those seven girls from Canterlot City and the abilities they had displayed. He thought of what could have become of them had Luthor or someone else found them first, and just how easily they could be overwhelmed, in spite of their strange powers.

It took a lot of mental debating, but Bruce eventually pressed the comm-button, thus calling his trusty butler who quickly picked up on the other end.

"Yes?" Alfred's voice sounded perfectly controlled and professional as always, in spite of the rather poor way their last conversation had ended. "Is there any trouble, Master Wayne? Should I start up the Batwing?"

"No." said Bruce, not having any trouble talking and expertly steering his tank of a vehicle, "No, I called about our talk from earlier."

"... Master Wayne," Alfred started, sounding apologetic, "I know I had no right bringing up Ja-"

"You were right, Alfred." His words cut off whatever Alfred had intended to say, allowing Bruce to explain himself, "This session with Luthor let me see things more clearly." An underlying tone of resolve entered his gruff voice, "I can't leave those kids by themselves, not with people like Luthor out in the world."

It was quiet on the other end for just a second, before Bruce heard Alfred asked in a rather hopeful tone, "Truly?"

"Yes." Bruce affirmed resolutely, a small smirk appearing on his lips, "After all these years it looks like you finally managed to talk some sense into me."

"There's a first time for everyting, Master Wayne." Alfred commented idly, but after so many years together Bruce knew that his old friend was smiling, "... Does that mean you'll bring them onto that team of yours?"

The lighthearted mood died rather quickly. Bruce spent a few moments in brooding, contemplative silence. He still didn't like this. He never wanted to involve children in his fight against crime ever again. He cringed as he was assaulted by memories the horrible fate of the boy, HIS boy.

A lone body lying bloody, broken and unmoving on the oaken floor while the flames consumed everything around it, that mad bastard's laughter echoing out into the night...

He shook those horrible thoughts away, as he had done many times before, it was the only way he could keep his sanity in tact. Yes, Bruce truly did not want to involve those children in this, nor any children for that matter. But, given Luthor's warnings and those damn visions, they may not have a choice in the future.

But that did not mean he would deprive them of their choice now.

"... Only if they want to." He answered at last, hoping he sounded more sure than he felt, "I won't force this on any of them."

"Well," Alfred said, "I suppose it's better than nothing, wouldn't you say, sir?"

A barely audible snort escaped Bruce, "Yeah, I guess so." It brought some sense of inner peace to his dark mind, knowing that things between him and his oldest friend were still good. Bruce knew he would be nothing without his trusty butler. "Now, pack our bags, would you? We'll be heading to Canterlot City in a few days."

There was a bout of silence and then Alfred spoke. Bruce could practically hear the old butler's smile, "Shall I call in for the Mercedes or the Jet, sir?"

"Jet." Bruce responded easily, tapping a few buttons to make the seven files of Canterlot footage appear on the Batmobile's computer screen. He stared at them with a still lingering sense of doubt, a sense of fear... But also a new sense of duty in his old heart, a duty to protect.

"We might need more seats."

Rainbooms, Meet Bruce Wayne

Another day, another tediously exhausting calculus exam, as the old saying didn't go. Having just finished the tiring academic trial, six of the seven members of the Rainbooms were trudging down the busy school hallways, with the exception of one Twilight Sparkle, who practically skipped along with a rather satisfied expression.

"I'd say that went pretty swell, wouldn't you?" Twilight asked her friends with bright smile, recieving various groans in return.

"Speak for yourself, sugarcube." said Applejack tiredly, "I for one just know I goofed up on number 17. It felt like my brain turned to applesauce." she groaned once more, "I mean, we're doin' math but all I see on the papers are letters! What sadistic maniac added letters to math, that's what I wanna know!"

"Sir Isaac Newton!" Twilight happily answered, ignoring the blasphemous words of her friend.

Applejack only grumbled, "Stupid clever Newton! With his wig, a-and his fancy gravity..."

Her words brought some levity to the group, all of them letting out a good few chuckles. Even Applejack couldn't help but snort.

"I'm with ya on that, sister." Rainbow Dash added in, looking overall done with the day in general, "The average school day is already boring enough on its own, there's no need to throw in calculus into the mix." she let out a longing sigh, "What I wouldn't give for some good action.."

"Aww, don't be so glum, Dashie!" Pinkie, as always, attempted to cheer up her friend, suddenly placing her arms around Rainbow Dash, "The day's not over yet and I for one think it's about to get pretty interesting!"

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow Dash challenged, "How'd you figure?"

Pinkie shrugged, still smiling brightly, "Just a feeling! I have a hunch that any second now, our lives are gonna change foreve-"

"Excuse me, girls?" the familiar cool and authoritarian voice of their vice-principal was heard behind them, resulting in each and every one of the Rainbooms turning about. There stood Luna Solaris, looking professional as ever with a clipboard in hand. The woman's blue eyes looked the group over, as if counting them.

Seemingly satisfied, she said, "Perfect, you're all here." she gestured to the path behind her, "I need all of you to come with me to the principal's office."

"Principal's office?" Twilight repeated, her and the others looking both surprised and troubled.

"We're not in any trouble, I hope?" asked Rarity with a worried frown.

Before they could get an answer, Rainbow Dash exclaimed in a surprisingly defensive tone, "That armadillo was in the Art room before I got there, I swear!" she pointed an accusing finger at the vice-principal, mistaking the purpose of the woman's appearance, "You have no evidence!"

Luna blinked, "... Miss Dash, what are you-"

She was interrupted as the athletic girl seemed to panic slightly, as her magneta eyes darted about worriedly, "I was framed! Wait! No, I-I'm young and impressionable! Uh, video games made me do it! It's society's fau-"

"Miss Dash!" Luna repeated, her tone still even, yet somehow more commanding this time as it easily silenced every student within a fifty feet radius. Now having caught their attention, "None of you are in any sort of trouble, quite the opposite. I simply need you all to accompany me." her blue eyes then hardened as she focused on Rainbow Dash, "But we will be having a little chat about that armadillo later, Miss Dash."

Said girl gulped audibly, her friends looking on in amusement before they all began walking off to follow behind their vice-principal. As they trudged down the rather desolent hallways of their school, with the exception of Pinkie Pie who skipped about as usual, the Rainbooms were all mostly silent, each of them contemplating why they could possibly all have been summoned to Celestia's office out of the blue.

Within a short while they were all standing infront of the door to the principal's office. Luna raised her hand and first knocked politely thrice before she opened the door, her body obscuring the Rainbooms' view of the inside. The vice-principal called into the office, "I've brought them all, Tia."

"Ah, perfect!" the familiar, warm melodious voice of principal Celestia responded, "Please send them in."

With that invitation, Luna turned towards the group of kids and nudged her head to gesture for them to follow her as she stepped inside. Sharing one last curious and slightly concerned look among them, the girls did as they were bid and trudged into the office without protest.

"Good day, girls." Celestia greeted them warmly from her office desk, as always. They were just about to greet their principal back, once they noticed that the chair intended for visitors was, in fact, occupied, by a complete stranger, no less. He turned his head in their direction and let out a pleased noise.

"These must be the 'Rainbooms' I've heard so much about." he said lightly as he rose up from his chair, allowing the girls the girls to get a better look at him.

The man as certainly tall, probably standing at the same height as Celestia herself, broad-shouldered and dressed in a sleek and expensive-looking black suit and tie which caught the impressed eyes of Rarity right away. He had a confident, yet non-chalant air about him. His features were aristocratic and he had neatly kept designer stubble in the same shade of graying dark as his slicked back hair. Stormy blue were his eyes which were currently observing the girls with an unreadable gaze.

"Let's see," he started surveying them all, "It's Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity Belle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy Breeze, Pinkamina Pie and Jacklyn Smi- Sorry," he apologized with something of an amused smile, seeing the farm girl's cross look, "I suppose you prefer to go by 'Applejack', correct?"

Said girl nodded cautiosly, both her and her friends already starting to have questions bubbling within as to just who this man was and how he knew their names. Sunset most of all felt immediatly cautious, eyeing the stranger with suspiscion.

"Indeed." Celestia answered him, not knowing of her students thoughts, before turning towards the band of girls whilst Luna walked up beside her, "Kids, this is man is Bruce Wayne."

"... Who?" Rainbow Dash asked after a bit of silence, her and about half of her friens looking rather confused, not recognizing the name.

Rarity, on the other hand, let out a gasp that was both startled and awed, a hand flying to her chest, "B-Bruce Wayne..." she stuttered out, her gaze filled with a new sense of admiration as her keen eyes looked upon the stranger in a new light, assaulted by memories of the name appearing in many of her favourite magazines, "As in the reclusive Gotham City billionaire? That Bruce Wayne?"

A small smile appeared on his face, as if he was used to this sort of reaction, "Unless there are any others out there, then yes."

It was an understatement to say that the girls were all shocked, each of them looking at the man with varying levels of shock and awe. With the exception of Pinkie, who leaned over towards Rainbow Dash with a somewhat smug smile and whispered excitedly, "See, I told you today would be interesting!"

"Y-You're the CEO of Wayne Enterprises..." Fluttershy chimed in with her usual quiet tone.

The man was surprised, but pleasantly so as he turned his gaze to Fluttershy, "You know of my company." It was more of a statement than a question.

Fluttershy blushed at being adressed, espescially by a man of such renown and power as the one before her, but nodded all the same "Mhm." avoiding eye contact with the man, she still smiled as she quietly told him, "I, um, I-I really admire the donations you've made to animal- and enviromental protection, sir."

Mr Wayne took the girl's timid behaviour in stride, simply smiling kindly at her, "I'm glad to hear it."

Twilight, who now realized that this man was, in fact, the Bruce Wayne, adjusted her glasses as she looked at the billionaire in what was clearly amazement and no small sense of admiration, "W-Wow..." she stuttered in wonder, before deciding that she needed to do something more.

The girl thrust out her hand for the man to shake and spoke, though it came out a tad higher than her usual tone of voice, "I-It's an honor, Mr Wayne! I just wanna say that your company's research in developing cold fusion is nothing short of inspiring!"

She could her some of her friends snickering quietly behind her, and Twilight was self-consciouss enough to know that she had entered another one of her nerd-moments. But it didn't matter as she felt as if she were on Cloud 9 once she was given that suave smile and Bruce Wayne took her hand and shook it firmly, "Please, the pleasure is mine, miss Sparkle." he let go of her hand, "And I'll be sure to tell our scientists that their efforts are appreciated."

"So, what brings ya to our neck of the woods, sir?" Applejack then asked, a polite smile on her face, "Canterlot's quite a bit off from your home turf."

The man simply gave her a somewhat mysterious smile, not exactly answering. It was instead Celestia who spoke up, looking at the girls with an excited smile as she gestured to him, "You see, girls, Mr Wayne has flown here all the way from Gotham City to speak with you about an exciting career opportunity."

Now that got the Rainbooms' attention, all of them looking amongst themselves with curious and questioning eyes. What could one of the richest and most reclusive men in the world want to offer them? It was Sunset who dared to speak up, raising a brow and crossing her arms, "Opportunity?"

Both of the sisters simply smiled, the younger of the two gesturing towards the only male in the room, "Perhaps you should explain it, Mr Wayne?"

"Yes, thank you, Luna." his tone was grateful whilst he gave her an admittedly charming smile, "And please, it's Bruce."

The Rainbooms didn't really know how to feel about seeing their usual no-nonsense vice-principal blush like one of the school girls she usually sent to detention. Celestia seemed to be loving it, a hand flying to her mouth to undoubtedly hide away a snicker. But not to much though was dwelt upon it, for Mr Wayne quite easily stole their attention once he turned his gaze toward them.

"Ever since it was first founded by my ancestor Solomon Wayne in the 19th century, Wayne Enterprises has always strived towards making a brighter and more stable future for not only the people of Gotham, but of Earth." The man simply eminated power, experience and confidence as he spoke. Even the more silly and easily disctracted members of the group remained quiet and listened attentively.

"But it's only recently crossed our minds that, in order to have a greater chance at achieving that goal, we need the help and contact of the ones who are our planets future," he gestured a hand towards them all, "The youth."

Rainbow Dash blinked, "... Yeah, I don't follow." It took a sharp elbow in her side from Rarity to remember just who she was talking to, thus she hastily added on, "Uh, sir!"

A bit of air was blown out of Mr Wayne's nose, his lips tilting upwards slightly, "It's quite simple, Miss Dash." when he looked them all over his eyes were unreadable, though a small smile remained on his lips, "I'm here today to offer you all internships at my company."

"Internships?" Twilight asked hopefully, "Y-You mean at Wayne Enterprises?"

"Well," he answered, raising a wry brow, "Certainly not at Lexcorp."

A tiny, delighted squeal escaped Twilight, her face lighting up as if christmas had come early.

But while her friends certainly found enjoyment in watching Twilight geek-out, their reactions were far more subdued, even somewhat sceptic.

"Um, Mr Wayne?" asked Sunset, quickly gaining his attention. She cleared her throat, not wanting to sound impolite, "Not that we aren't grateful for this opportunity, really! But... Why did you choose the seven of us?" Perhaps she was being paranoid, but something about this just didn't feel right to her.

The man shrugged, "There's not much to tell, really. We simply reach out to a few schools in each state, chosen at random, of course, look through promising candidates for what we had in mind, and choose a few from these respective schools."

He gestured towards Celestia's desk, where several different report cards and other such papers regarding them was scattered about, "Both your principal and vice-principal has assured me that you are all performing exceptionaly in school, that you show a drive and purpose which we want all of our workers to have and..."

It was hard for the girls to tell just what sort of look Mr Wayne sent them, neither his face or his eyes giving anything away. Was it admiration? Suspiscion? Indifference? None of them could tell as he continued. "They've told me that you are all kind and look out for your fellow students." At last, a small smile appeared on his lips, "Sadly, that's a rare quality in the typical high schooler."

Naturally, the Rainbooms couldn't help but beam at the compliment, delivered by a man such as Bruce Wayne, no less. For all of them felt pride in their hearts at what their bonds had managed to accomplish during their time as friends. The people they had protected, the lives they had changed, all of it resulted in a sort of warm, fuzzy feeling inside of them at their efforts being acknowledged. Even though Mr Wayne didn't have all of the details, his words were welcome nonetheless.

"Girls," said Celestia, easily catching their attention, "Though I'll never say that you can't say no, I hope you all realize that this is not an opportunity you are likely to ever get again. Accepting Mr Wayne's offer can help tremendously with your future after high school."

"Oh, absolutely." Luna concurred, "It'll be an amazing way for you all to get proper experience. Also, having an internship at Wayne Enterprises of all places on your CVs will be a major boon for your future college and job applications."

And though Twilight was practically vibrating on the spot at this point, her excitement over the prospect barely restrained, the other girls were not so sure. For while the benefits of such an internship was undeniable, a lot of the girls just didn't feel like this sort of thing was for them, most notably Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who had radically different careers in mind after High School than what an internship at a company like Wayne Enterprises could prepare them for.

Then again, those of them who were doubting couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. Here this man had taken time out of a no doubt busy schedule just to offer them this opportunity in person, selecting them just because he had been impressed by their High School achievements. The fact that it was clear as day that Celestia and Luna thought that they should all accept didn't exactly help.

They were all shaken out of their thoughts by Mr Wayne, who turned to the other two adults there, "Celestia, Luna, would you two mind terribly if I had some time alone with your students to discuss further benefits?"

None of the sisters had any objections, both simply shruggin with Celestia saying, "Not at all." before they both rather swiftly moved to exit the room, Wayne giving them both an appreciative nod. Sending their seven students two last encouraging looks, Luna closed the door behind her once both her and Celestia were out, leaving the Rainbooms alone with the Gotham billionaire.

For a moment, all was strangely quiet in the office. Bruce Wayne simply stood there, unmoving and unreadable as he gazed upon the students. It was rather unnerving, if the girls were honest, most of them finding it hard to keep eye-contact with the rather intense look the man was now suddenly giving them.

None of the girls knew how this was supposed to work, even Twilight was stumped. Should they talk first? Should he talk first? The seconds ticked away in a tense silence, until finally Applejack cleared her throat, wanting to get her point across to the billionaire as quickly as possible.

"Look, Mr Wayne, sir," Applejack started with an un-even smile, trying to say it as nicely as she could, "Now I don't know 'bout my friends, but I don't think this internship-business is my-"

"I know you all have abilities." he interrupted her suddenly, not only adressing her but all of the girls in the room, "I just don't know where they came from."

All of the Rainbooms looked up sharply at that, staring at the man as if he had turned into an elephant. They also noticed that Mr Wayne seemed... different. The charismatic, nonchalance the billionaire had put on display earlier was practically gone, and in its place there was now a very serious and very business-like demeanour.

And as if the sudden shift wasn't rattling enough, his mentioning of abilities was enough to set all of the girls on edge, each one of them visibly tensing up. Sunset's fingers were twitching at her sides, a plan already forming in her mind as her green eyes remained fixed upon Mr Wayne.

They all realized, of course, that their sudden silence didn't do them any favours, and instead attempted to play of the man's words with a few dismissive chuckles.

"Wh-What?" Rarity mentally cursed the fact that she couldn't keep the slight stutter out of her voice, "I'm afraid I don't understand, Mr Wayne."

"'Abilities'?" Twilight echoed the word, her earlier excitement now gone and in its place there was caution, "I-Is this part of an interview for the internship or something? I don't follow."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash agreed, though everyone there who knew her could tell that there was an underlying unease in her tone, "I-I mean, I know I'm pretty awesome at sports but I don't really know if you could call that an 'ability', that makes it sound like superpowers or somethin'. I mean, that'd be crazy!"

Recieving many somewhat discreet looks of incredulity from her friends, Rainbow Dash mentally kicked herself once what she had said truly registered in her head. It was clear from his expression that the Gothamite didn't believe a word she said, making the girls worry all the more.

All the while this had happened, Sunset had slowly but surely moved herself closer to Mr Wayne, hand raised slightly as she prepared to get some answers. Reckless might be a good way to describe her actions, but Sunset refused to take any risks, not when her friends and their magic was possible conscerned.

While her movements had gone mostly unnoticed by her friends until she stood very close to the man, Sunset held no illusion that Mr Wayne hadn't noticed her approach since she first started moving. The way his blue eyes simply met hers without a trace of fear of questioning was all the evidence she needed.

Sunset didn't see, but she could tell that her friends were looking concerned behind her, probably guessing what their interdimensional friend was hoping to do. But it was too late to back down now. She needed answers.

"Mr Wayne," she started, attempting to sound as innocent as possible as her hand moved to touch him. She could how his fingers only tweaked slightly while his steely eyes remained fixed upon her. Deciding to go through with it, she placed her hand on the man's arm, "Why do you think tha-"

That was all she said before a flash of white assaulted her vision and the magic she possessed flowed between the two individuals.

It was then Sunset saw the truth.

She saw a little boy, no older than eight years of age standing infront of a pair of tombststones.

She saw images of a dark city, a bright signal of a bat lighting up the black night sky.

She saw a mansion in flames as haunting and maniacal laughter echoed out into the night.

She saw rays of pure heat penetrate a skyscraper among a ruined Metropolis.

She saw a great, black shape, not unlike a vampire moving through the shadows, descending like a monster upon a group of armed thugs.

She saw HIM, the infamous Bat of Gotham she had only ever read about, standing over a heap of beaten and bloodied crooks, pupiless eyes glowing through the darkness.

From this creature she heard the voice of Mr Wayne, but distorted, dark, and un-earthly,

"I'm vengeance."

This was all she could take before she removed her hand as if it had been burned, flinching backwards and almost tripping as her eyers, now alit with pure shock and no small amount of fear, never left the man who had come to their school in search of her, in search of her friends.

Speaking of, the other six girls wasted no time in hurrying to her side, each and every one of them asking if she was alright. However, Sunset did not register their words as she could only stare at Mr Wayne, a look of fear on her face as her mouth moved up and down without making a sound, shocked to the core at what her magic had just let her witness.

Of course, Mr Wayne himself had not seen any of that Sunset had seen. To him, this girl had simply touched him before going into shock. Therefore, he now appeared to be genuinley concerned, though there was also a small glint of suspiscion in his look as he asked, "Are you alright there, kid? Do you need to sit down?"

She met his gaze head-on, still trying to figure out just how she should handle this sudden revelation. After a good few rapid breaths and one audible gulp for her suddenly very dry mouth, she at last managed to force out a very simple, yet very important question:

"You're the Batman?"

A silence settled in the office, all other occupants looking at Sunset with incredulous expressions while she herself kept staring up at the Gothamite. That silence was not to last, though, as shortly thereafter the other six members of the Rainbooms began to let out everything from quiet snickers to full on laughter at the idea.

"C'mon, Sun-shim!" Rainbow Dash scoffed, snickering alongside Applejack, "You mean to tell me that Batman, as in, the dark knight, vengeful vigilante of Gotham City, is that guy?" she gestured a rather offending hand to said man, but shortly thereafter she let out a nervous chuckle, "Uh, no offence, Mr Wayne."

"Yeah, that's pretty out there, Sunny!" Pinkie Pie chimed in with a bright smile, "Just look! Batman clearly wears a flowing cape whereas Mr Wayne's in a snazzy suit! There's just no way!"

All of them now turned towards the man with expectant smiles and lingering laugs, waiting for him to break into laughter at the silly notion of him being the infamous Batman as well.

Their laughter quickly died once they saw that Mr Wayne wasn't laughing. No, if anything, he looked even more serious and more stoic than he did before. The concern vanished, instead replaced with an analytical suspiscion as he consciously made some distance between himself and Sunset, staring at her long and hard as his lips settled into a thin line.

"... I take it fire's not all you can do."

There was a quiet, yet still audible sharp intake of breath from six of the girls at the man's words. They weren't accusing in tone, rather, it sounded more as if Mr Wayne was simply stating a fact. But of course, he was NOT supposed to know that! Having heard such a telling phrase was a devastating blow to the girls' sense of security, an unease starting to settle.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sunset herself lied without missing a beat, her tone and expression both remarkably controlled while she was screaming on the inside. Internally, she begged to whatever deities that were out there that this was all just a huge misunderstanding.

No such luck, as the man raised a brow, "Of course not." He then reached into his coat, only to pull out a tablet of all things, quickly typing in a few things before tilting the screen around so the girls could all see. As the tablet played a video of when Sunset had used her powers to help out a few homeless people from a while back, the seven girls all felt pits growing in their stomachs. It looked like Mr Wayne unfortunatley had more on them than what they had first thought.

"I take it that this isn't you, then?" he asked dryly, having seen the way they all froze up at the video and quickly putting the dots together, "A twin sister, perhaps? Maybe a clone? "

The eyes of the other six Rainbooms were darting in-between their friend and the Gothamite, worried and anxious at how quickly this situation was escalating out of their control.

"... I don't see what you mean." Sunset managed to say after a while, her desperation enough to fuel her decieving front as she attempted to dismiss the footage, "There was a freak fire when I happened to walk by, most likely because of some misplaced scraps of kerosene or anything else that's flammable." she leveled her stare at the man, refusing to give in, "I would hardly call that proof."

Mr Wayne shrugged, his sharp eyes feeling as if they were looking into the girls' very souls, "Perhaps not." he said, but not before swiping the screen with his finger, thus putting six other videos up on the screen, all of them showing the other six girls in the room using their magic, "But given all of this I wouldn't find it all that surprising."

The girls were silent, fear starting to course through them.

"B-But how...?" Twilight couldn't help but mutter as she helplessly observed the footage. Despite knowing that she had better remain silent, her scientific mind was trying to wrap itself around what she had just learned, "I-I thought that I..." she consciously trailed off, knowing that if she said anything else she could only end up digging a deeper hole than the one they were currently in.

But her behaviour had not escaped the eyes of Mr Wayne, who now turned to her with that same, unreadable look, "Going by your look I take it you were the one trying to cover yours and your friends' tracks then, Miss Sparkle?"

Twilight looked down, not wanting to meet the man's eyes, affraid that she would only cause more trouble if she did. She could only listen as he gave her what actually sounded like genuine praise, "It was an an admirable effort to protect you and your friends, and you did a well enough job." there was a pause, "But I'm afraid that your skills fell just a bit short."

Wow, that felt like a stab to Twilight's heart. Had her poor efforts been the reason they had been discovered? Had she not been good enough to protect her friends? As these agonzing questions echoed in her mind, there was still one thing which prevented the girl from breaking down right then and there.

"Wait..." she started, her mind taking over as she ignored the sting of emotional pain and instead focused on a few details she had picked up during Sunset's previous talk with Mr Wayne. She let out a startled gasp, a fearful look much like the one Sunset had had earlier appearing on her face. Twilight stared up at the man who had turned around their entire world in such a short amount of time.

"B-But then..." she muttered, the revelation feeling as if it was too much for even her to handle, "If you're acting like this, then..."

Her words were a spark that lit the fires of deduction within the minds of her friends, as shortly thereafter they all began putting the dots together as well. A good amount of shocked gasps escaped them as the truth behind their visitor became all the clearer in their minds. Rarity almost fainted on the spot.

"So you're really...?" Rainbow Dash tried to ask, but the words died on her tounge. She couldn't help but feel a strange mix of awe and fear within her as the truth unraveled before both her and her friends.

"Y-Y-You're Batman!?" Fluttershy at last stammered out, practically shaking where she stood as her large eyes became alit with fright as she quickly hid behind Applejack. The cowgirl herself felt just as shocked as all the others, nearly all of the Rainbooms now gaping like fishes at the Gothamite, who remained stoic and staring at Sunset who met the stare head-on.

"He is." Sunset affirmed gravely as Mr Wayne simply remained silent, "I saw it." Her stare evolved into a downright glare, as she moved to stand protectively infront of her six friends.

If any of the girls still had doubts, they were immediatly crushed as soon as Sunset had said those words. After all, they had all had their own experience with Sunset's touchy-memory powers (Pinkie's name for it) before.

"W-Woah..." Rainbow Dash stammered out, her general admiration of all things Superhero taking over the more rational thoughts of fear and unease. She couldn't help but chuckle, "Gotta say, this isn't how I imagined I'd be meeting the freakin' Batman for the first time!"

Despite the situation, Applejack raised a brow at her and dryly asked, "You seriously put a lot o' thought on how you'd be meetin' Batman?"

Rainbow Dash avoided looking her friend in the eyes, "... Maybe."

"What do you want then!?" Sunset suddenly snapped angrily at Mr Wayne, the man's stoic silence only putting her more on edge. Her gaze was agressive and demanding, "You know we have powers and yet the government aren't here to interrogate us or to try to disect us in one of your labs yet. What gives?"

Some might call her crazy for speaking like that to a man she now knew was the same caped crusader who had alledgedly been able to fight alonside the likes of Superman. Her friends certainly seemed to think so, given the frightened and disbelieving gasps she heard from behind her. But Sunset didn't care at this point. The cards were on the table and she was getting answers!

Mr Wayne did not seem fazed by her attitude. If anything, some of the girls thought he almost looked approvingly at her, but that might've just been a trick of the light. Still quiet, he pocketed the tablet, before letting out a small sigh as he faced the girls once more.

"I take it you all remember Superman?" he asked them rhetorically, already knowing the answer. His eyes seemed almost haunted as the memories of that day came flashing by in his head, "He died fighting next to me, all because of a mad man who wanted to exploit his power and ruin him."

The Rainbooms couldn't help but flinch slightly at the reminder of the demise of the Man of Steel. It brought a whole new sense of reality and seriousness to the situation, knowing that the man before them had actually fought alongside the hero each of them had looked up to in their own way.

"When you say 'mad man', are you possibly referring to Lex Luthor?" asked Rarity.

Mr Wayne nodded gravely, "I've seen Luthor play with people like you as if they were pieces on a game board."

Fluttershy blinked, "People like us?"

"Metahumans." he elaborated, "Enhanced, Supers, people with, shall we say, special abilities. Call them what you will, but the fact is that not all people out there are a fan of them. I presume that is why you've all been so adamant in your denial and why you, miss Sparkle, worked so hard to cover your tracks."

Unlike the outrage or admonishment the girls might've expected, Mr Wayne instead gave them an approving nod, "That's good. It means you're not stupid."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sunset demanded, crossing her arms.

Mr Wayne let out a small sigh, spending just a small moment in silence as his thoughts wandered. Once he spoke, his voice was distant and remorseful, "When mankind was first introduced to the Superman two years ago, in spite of all the good he did, it caused all sorts of panic among Earth's people. For all those who admired and looked up to him, a great deal feared and despised him."

None of the girls knew why, but the man now looked guilty, "People wanted to use him, destroy him, and everything in-between." he seemed to shake himself out of it as he focused his hard gaze on them once more, pointing a finger at them, "And that, in turn, has driven all of you to hide away your gifts. For if the world discovered what you could do, Luthor and all other maniacs like him would waste no time in tracking you down to find ways to use you for their own purposes."

It was not a pleasant truth, but it was a truth nonetheless. Unease and anxiousness was felt all throughout the girls, as if Mr Wayne had made them confront a fact they had wanted to pretend wasn't there for so very long.

"Wait." said Pinkie Pie, suddenly scratching her head whilst her big blue eyes looked genuinley confused, "You mean people with superpowers can't just appear and people will automatically accept it?"

Mr Wayne shook his head, looking almost pitying at the display of naïveté, "I'm afraid not."

Pinkie let out a hurt and outraged gasp, "The MCU lied to me!"

"In any case," he continued, deciding to ignore that random outburst, "I didn't come here today to simply offer you all internships."

"Obviously." Sunset muttered crossly. Mr Wayne sent her a hard, but earnest look.

"Instead," he said, "I'm here because I want to help you all to protect not only yourselves, but those around you."

The girls were confused. "Uh, what's that mean?" a bewildered Applejack asked, rubbing the back of her head.

Silence reigned for just a moment, Mr Wayne looking contemplative of how he should best phrase his thoughts. Eventually, he seemed to settle for a rather short and very simple, "You all seem like good kids."

Now that took the girls by surprise, none of them being able to hinder a brief look of disbelief from appearing on their faces. They could only listen as the man continued, gesturing towards them and speaking in a matter-of-fact sort of voice,

"You're earnest, you work hard, you look out for eachother and those around you. And given what I've seen on that footage it seems that you want to help others. If your abilities had been in the hands of someone else, I assure you that not everyone would be so eager to help a run-over cyclist or to save a poor little boy from being hit by a car."

He shook his head, his lips twitching upwards ever so slightly as he looked over them, "No, you have all these powers, gifts even I myself don't understand yet, and you haven't abused them, no matter how easy it would have been." the lighter air disappeared, replaced by that same stoic expression from earlier, "Now, if you had, I assure you that this would have been a very different talk."

Once more, the seven girls couldn't hold back from reacting to the pure intensity that the man had displayed, some of them drawing sharp intakes of breath while Fluttershy audibly gulped.

Mr Wayne continued, approaching them only slightly with purpose in his steps, a true conviction in his voice as he spoke to them, "The point is, I ask of you all to let me help you harnest those abilities. With my guidance, with the resources I can provide, you can master those powers, push them to the limit," he gave them what might've been his first genuine smile since they met, "And maybe save a few people along the way."

Ignoring the fact that this was infact Batman smiling at them, the girls couldn't help but feel stunned by this sudden offer from the billionaire. When he revealed that he had known of their powers, the girls' first thoughts had mostly been that he was there to blackmail them or something equally despicable. They had most certainly not expected for Mr Wayne to offer his help.

"What's the catch?" Sunset asked, still sceptic over this whole development, even somehow moreso now. It just didn't make sense to her, "What do you get out of helping us?"

"... I suppose it would ease my conscience." he admitted after a beat of silence. It was certainly an unexpected answer, catching the girls off-guard given how utterly guilty Mr Wayne seemed in his confession. Not only that, the way he man suddenly looked tired and defeated made it look like he had aged ten years in a second. "I failed Superman, girls..."

They could only stare at his confession, not exactly knowing how to feel about it. But not too much thought was put into it, as Mr Wayne seemed to discard whatever guilt he may have carried, and instead settled a look upon them that spoke of conviction and, surprisingly enough, honesty.

"I won't fail you." he said it in a way that was similar to making a sacred promise, not only to them, but to himself, "All I ask is that you give me a chance to prove that I only want to help you."

The Rainbooms remained quiet, exchanging looks between them as if to ask; 'Should we?'

For while some of them were certainly more inclined to accept his offer while others were hellbent on declining, it was undeniably a huge descision, the outcome of which could perhaps change their entire lives.

On one hand, ith Mr Wayne's help, they could be free of restrictions, get to learn more of their geodes and abilities than they had ever before. But on the other hand, could they honestly trust their stranger with such knowledge that they had worked so hard to keep a secret?

It was quite the conundrum.

"Can we..." Twilight gathered her courage and broke the silence, avoiding looking Mr Wayne directly in the eyes while she twiddled her fingers nervously, "Can we have some time? Y'know, t-to think it all over?"

Sunset nearly scoffed bitterly at her friend's naive words. Of couse he wouldn't give them time! The guy had intel on them, he had footage of their abilities, real evidence! And with his power and influence he could have them ousted to the government or Celestia knows what at the snap of his fingers! He could probably-

"Of course." Mr Wayne answered easily, not looking deterred in the slightest. In fact, it might just've been a trick of the light, but some of the girls thought that the man looked almost relieved for a split second.

Sunset herself did a double-take, looking at the man as if he had grown a second head. Before she could lay more thought on it, though, seven different notification signals from seven different phones went off at once.

The girls all hesitated, not sure they should look at whatever notification they had gotten at this moment. They were surprised when Mr Wayne instead looked at them expectantly, and it took just a moment before they realized that he wanted them to look.

Still somewhat baffled and cautious, they all reached into their pockets and pulled out their phones, seeing that they had all gotten a text from an unknown number. They looked up at Mr Wayne, eyes pleading for an explanation.

"Three days." he said, his tone grave and serious, "If you all accept, just message that number and I will give you further details. If you don't want anything to do with this or me, then you simply ignore the number and I'll be out of your hair for good."

All the girls looked shocked, not having anticipated that part of the offer.

"Seriously?" Sunset asked, her face mirroring the scepticism in her voice. This man, Batman, had knowledge of all of their powers, expressed interest in them and was giving them a choice? No, it sounded too good to her, and she of all people should know. During her darker days as a high school bully she had become somewhat of an expert in the art of blackmailing, not that it was a skill she was particularly proud of possessing these days.

"Seriously." Mr Wayne nodded, sounding completely genuine in his response, "Believe what you will, girls, but I am not here to force this upon you." For a brief moment he looked down, his expression looked pained, sorrow and guilt glinting in his usually hardened eyes, "No, there's been enough compulsion, enough manipulation."

He looked back up at the girls, the brief hint of anguish gone. In its place there was now a resolve, a sense of duty in his old and worn eyes, "If I took away your element of choice then I would be no different from Luthor."

"That's... mighty decent of ya, Mr Wayne." Applejack said after a beat of silence, her tone and expression both genuinley appreciative but unsure at the same time. Her bright green eyes, usually capable of deceit coming a mile away, were looking over his face, searching for even the slightest hint of dishonesty. A twitch, a gulp, rapid eye movements, anything.

But, of course, leave it to the Batman to be basically unreadable. His face remained unchanged, simply shrugging as he responed somewhat cryptically, "I just want to do this right."

None of the girls were sure how to respond, looking unsure among themselves, all except for one. No, Sunset's green eyes were still alit with suspiscion and scepticism, staring at Mr Wayne as if he would throw one of his infamous 'Batarangs' at her friends at any second. Either the man didn't notice or he simply didn't care, continuing on.

"And also," in a sudden shift, the whole presensce of the man before them changed completely. His soul-piercing eyes hardened, a scowl formed on his face and when he spoke, his voice was deep and unsettling, "I hope you all understand that none of you can, under ANY circumstances, reveal what you have learned about me to anyone. Am I clear?"

The girls all leaned back at the pure intensity that was suddenly eminating from the man. Even Sunset couldn't help but flinch while Fluttershy let out an audible whimper. After all their battles against evil and corrupting Equestrian magic, nothing quite compared to the glare they were currently on the recieving end of. Yes, it was at this moment the Rainbooms truly understood that this wasn't Bruce Wayne talking.

This was the Batman.

"Crystal!" Rainbow Dash answered for the group, though it came out more as a high-pitched squeak. The man stared at them all long and hard for what felt like the longest and most horribly tense seconds of the girls' lives. All of them let out collective breaths they didn't know they had been holding once he at last gave them a terse nod.

No less than a second afterwards, the office door opened and Celestia and Luna both took a peak inside. An apologetic smile on their faces, they both stepped inside, "We're not interrupting anything, I hope." said Celestia.

"Not at all." Mr Wayne responded easily, doing a complete one-eighty as that charming smile and easy air returned in the blink of an eye, "In fact, we were just done."

He turned back towards the girls, still wearing that suave smile. Only now they knew it was little more than a mask, for they had seen the man's true face. When he spoke his words were consciderate, sounding like a teacher lecturing their students about future college applications, "Remember: Three days. Take your time and think things through. This is no small decision. I will expect commitment, so only say yes if you are absolutely sure."

The girls looked between themselves, still shocked about the whole situation, but also unsure. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Mr Wayne wasn't simply referring to the alledged offer of internships.

Not bothered by their silence, Mr Wayne simply reached out and grabbed his coat which had been hung up on his chair, "With that said, I think it's time I take my leave." He turned towards the two sisters and shook their hands professionally, "Thank you for your time, Celestia, Luna."

After both principal and vice-principal alike had exchanged pleasantries, the man then went for the door. But just as his hand was about to touch the doorknob, he turned about and leveled the seven girls with his sharp gaze.

"And girls," He said, looking serious while his tone was surprisingly genuine "I will respect your wishes."

They all remained silent, none of them really knowing how to respond to his words. For as much as some of them might've wanted to believe Mr Wayne, they all remembered how people had acted when Superman had first shown up, how many powerful people had tried to twist and manipulate the Kryptonian and his actions for their own benefit. The saving grace for Kal-El had been that he had been practically invulnerable.

But the Rainbooms had no such luck.

And so none of them said anything back. Well, except for Pinkie Pie, who instead waved cheerfully, "Bye, Mr Wayne! We'll think on it super hard, promise!"

The other six girls, in spite of their inner turmoil, all sent their pink friend dry looks, as if to say; 'Really?'

Looking as if he wasn't sure how to respond to that, the Gothamite gave them one final nod before he swiftly disappeared out of the office and closed the door behind him, the noise of which feeling far louder because of the contemplative silence that had settled within the room.

And while Celestia and Luna gave them some parting words and the like, none of it truly registered in the girls' minds as the billionaire's visit and the revelation of his alter-ego still ate away at their minds. Each and every one of them thought differently of the issue, some more strongly than others.

But all that was needed between them, between this group of friends that had seen so much, was a few glances between eachother to figure out their next course of action regarding this rather unexpected and disturbing development.

As soon as school was out, they had quite the talk ahead of them.

Author's Note

I just wanna give huge thanks to The Byzantine Knight who helped me with the concept of this chapter :twilightsmile:

A World In Mourning

Gloomy would probably be the best way to describe the weather currently being brought down upon Canterlot City. The rays of the September sun were blocked by great pillows of grey clouds whilst droplets of rain rappidly fell down upon the city streets.

In one of the city's most popular and beloved cafés and bakeries named Sugarcube Corner, a rather colourful group consisting of six teenage girls were sitting down by their usual spot, enjoying not only the warm and well-lit comfort of the interior, but also eachother's company while they enjoyed their sweets and drinks.

Of course, their little group was currently one girl short.

"Rainbow Dash was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago." Twilight grumbled to herself in-between bites of her blueberry-muffin.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, as the saying goes. For no sooner than Twilight had said this, the entrance to Sugarcube Corner practically slammed open and in trudged Rainbow Dash dressed in a dark blue, hooded rain jacket. Her magneta eyes quickly scanning the interior, she quickly located her friends and walked over, raising a hand in greetings which they returned.

"What took you so long?" Pinkie asked cheerfully, dipping a chocolate chip cookie into her vanilla latte with extra sugar and whipped cream.

"Sorry I'm late." Rainbow Dash apologized, "I was just watching the rerun of the Gotham-Metropolis game and lost track of time."

Applejack couldn't help but chuckle, having seen the game herself along with her family the other night, "I guess I don't have to remind you what that means, ain't that right, Dash?" she held out an expectant hand.

Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed groan as she grudingly dug into her pocket and pullet a ten-dollar bill which she then promptly placed in Applejack's outstretched hand. Said farmgirl simply smiled and tipped her hat in acknowledgement with a, "Thank ya kindly."

The other girls looked on in amusement, knowing full well that their two friends always did this sort of thing when a game for either of the two sister-cities came about. Raising her cup of Earl Grey up for a sip, Sunset shrugged and unapologetically remarked, "That's what you get for betting against Metropolis, Rainbow."

Pouting, Rainbow Dash grumbled as she removed her soaked rain jacket. "Man, the Gothamites are so weak now! If Victor Stone were still around, you would be the one paying me, AJ, let me tell ya."

Before Applejack could protest to that notion, something caught the attention of all of the girls sans Rainbow Dash. That being that she was dressed a little differently than usual.

Instead of her normal attire of a white t-shirt with her trademark rainbow-emblem and short-sleeved blue jacket, the athletic girl was now wearing a very simple black t-shirt. Its only print was the very same red S-like crest that was seen everywhere these days, and underneath it simply said in bold, silver letters:

REMEMBER

Noticing their gazes, Rainbow Dash looked down on the shirt with a smile, "You guys like it? I got it pretty cheap yesterday."

"I'll say!" Pinkie exclaimed, positive as ever, "That's a really snazzy shirt, Dashie!"

The rest of the girls were not as enthusiastic about Rainbow Dash's new attire, either giving it indifferent or unimpressed looks.

"Honestly, darling," said Rarity, stiring her cup of chamomile tea as her critical eyes looked over her friend, "Don't tell me you've also jumped on the fad of all this Superman-memorabilia." seeing Rainbow Dash's offended look, Rarity quickly added, "N-Not to say that you don't look good in it! I was just hoping you would wear something more original, you know?"

"Seriously." Sunset said, crossing her arms, "I get that it's not all that long ago since he died, but I see that 'S' literally EVERYWHERE."

"It's not an 'S'." Rainbow Dash corrected her automatically, taking a seat besides Fluttershy.

"Whatever!" Sunset couldn't keep a small bit of annoyance out of her tone as she threw her hands up in frustration, this being far from the first time the rainbow-haired girl had corrected her over this matter, "The fact is that this day alone I've seen, like, twenty-five people with shirts like that."

The other girls knew first hand that she wasn't exaggerating, they too having seen the Kryptonian crest on practically everything from shirts to keychains to mugs to towels, etc. Of course, the death of Superman had been felt all over the world, Canterlot City included. And just like the rest of the world, people hadn't hesitated to jump on the opportunity to make money off of the Man of Steel's gruesome end.

For example, the local business men and con men, the Flim and Flam brothers, had been seen selling poorly made bootleg products with the dead hero's symbol on it, weeping crocodile tears all the while. The saddest part being that they had actually sold quite a few of their ware, taking advantage of the Canterlotians' desire to mourn Superman.

Rainbow Dash could read her friends reactions rather easily, giving them a sheepish look, "I know that, it's just-" a genuine mournful frown came to her face as she gazed down on the shirt's print, "I know it ain't much... but I just want to honor him in some way, you know?"

It was no secret that, while all the girls held respect and admiration for him, Rainbow Dash was the group's most avid Superman-fan. Ever since his appearance two years earlier, the sports star of CHS had always been the one to eagerly report on his latest heroics, and his most dedicated defender when people critized him. She had even loudly admited that Superman was more awesome than her, and that was quite the praise.

She not only admired his amazing abilities, but his loyalty to the people of Earth, choosing to fight against his own race to protect all of them.

Rainbow Dash had cheered the loudest when they had all watched the live-footage of Superman fighting along side the Batman and the mysterious 'Wonder Woman' to defeat Luthor's abomination. And Rainbow Dash had been in the most disbelief when the creature's spike had pierced the Kryptonian's chest, ultimatley ending his life.

The girls all understood, and gave their rainbow-haired friend sympathetic looks.

"We get it, Dash." said Sunset, placing a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder and giving her a smile which Rainbow Dash returned. "... Doesn't mean I have to like the shirt."

Instead of getting offended, Rainbow Dash let out a snort which turned into a small chuckle, one which the other girls shortly joined in on.

"At least it's just a shirt." Twilight remarked once the snickering had died down, "I've seen some people in town build whole little shrines for him."

"You can't really blame them, though." Fluttershy spoke up, shying away slightly as all eyes turned towards her, "I mean, Superman did so much for so many. If it hadn't been for him we all would... W-We would have..." she trailed off, the truth of what their fate could have been proving too much for the timid girl. The other girls went silent as well, Fluttershy's words making their minds start to wander about how they first had learned of the Man of Steel.

Two years ago, none of the Rainbooms had the friendship they now treasured so greatly. It had been before Princess Twilight, before the Battle of the Bands, before the Friendship games.

Sunset had been a bully, terrorizing others and ruling CHS with an iron fist.

Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity had been splintered apart, not speaking to eachother because of Sunset's machinations.

Twilight hadn't even gone to the same school as them, an outcast in isolation at Crystal Prep.

And yet, wether they knew it or not, they, along with all others of the Earth's people, had all been united that day two years ago.

They had all watched in fear and astonishment when general Zod sent his worldwide message, demanding the alien only known as Kal-El. Then, they had only been able to watch in hopelesness and horror as the Kryptonian ship descended upon the city of Metropolis, causing such unimaginable devistation with the intent to eradicate all life and terraform their planet, their home.

Finally, they had all watched in awe and amazement as the alien, Superman, had flown in clashed with general Zod across the Metropolis skyline, their violent and awesome battle only being able to be described as 'Godlike'. The girls' eyes had been glued to the tv-screens, watching the extraterestrials crash into eachother to determine the fate of the world.

And each and every one of them had cheered and cried out in joy, along with millions of others, once the news had come that the Kryptonian general had been defeated, and that Superman had saved them all.

Even though they hadn't been on speaking terms, known eachother, or just plained despised eachother back then, none of them could forget just how much of an emotional rollercoaster they had been on that day. From terrified, to awed, to relieved and joyful, all because of the one called Superman.

They all remembered the good cheer that had been present in not only Canterlot, but in so many other areas of the world in the days that followed. True, the damage that had been done in Metropolis was devistating, and the poor people who had perished that day were mourned and honoured all over the world. But the fact that it was over, that such a world-endning catastrophe had been avoided, all because of one individual, had been enough to spread an air of relief and thankfulness in Canterlot. At least back then.

Things were different now. Far different.

A silence reigned amongst the group, each of the girls thinking back to that time, each of them staring out into nothing as they remembered. What snapped them out of their funk was the sudden raise of the volume on the cafe's wall-TV, catching their attention as they all turned to watch, along with most others of the cafe's costumers.

It was some senator or other, being interviewed about the country's plans for national defense. Of course, as it always seemed these days, the topic eventually brought in Superman, clips from his funeral in D.C from a few weeks back playing in the background. This particular clip was showing some of the more 'up-standing' people who had attended the service.

Applejack scoffed at the image, causing the others to look at her curiously.

"Got something on your mind there, darling?" Rarity inquired politely.

"I don't like it." the farmgirl responded, looking away with a frown. Seeing the others confused looks, she sighed before elaborating, "Much of it just feels mighty two-faced is what I'm sayin'. There were so many folks screechin' for Superman to stop interferin' but now that he's dead everyone acts like they've always supported 'im."

The others looked amongst themselves, knowing that none of them could really dispute what Applejack had said. For each of them had seen similar things all over the media recently.

Public figures, leaders of great corporations, celebrities, all had stepped forward and claimed their grief for the fallen hero. For example, the shrewd business man Simon Stagg had hosted a huge memorial for Superman, even though he had loudly and quite often berated the Kryptonian back when he still graced the skies.

"Well," Pinkie started, trying to look on the more positive side, "Sometimes you have to lose something first to really appreciate it. Like this one time I lost my Blue-Eyes White Dragon card and-"

"But this is Superman we're talkin about!" Applejack interrupted her heatedly, making both Pinkie and the others jump back at the sudden anger in her tone, "Y'know, that feller who saved the planet two years ago! That didn't stop that Amanda Waller chick from demanding that the government should be spendin' more money on ways to detain 'im, but then she gets frontrow seats to Superman's funeral!"

It was only after a bout of silence that Applejack realized that she was now standing up. And judging from the looks not only her friends, but the cafe's other occupants also were sending her, it seemed as if she had gotten increasingly louder.

Blushing and looking abashed, Applejack cleared her throat akwardly and sat down, adjusting her hat so it obscured part of her face, "... It just makes me mad is all." she said in a far more controlled tone. "Espescially all those things that weasel Luthor did to frame 'im for that business in Africa."

"Couldn't agree more, darling!" Rarity agreed with a sniff of destain, "Lex Luthor's a two-bit ruffian. I, for one, feel safer knowing that he's locked away in Arkham Asylum with all the other lunatics."

"He's done a lot of good, too." Twilight remarked off-handedly, but it was enough to garner the others' attention quite easily.

All the other girls turned towards her simultaneously, disbelief on their faces. Twilight just rolled her eyes, explaining further, "Yeah, Lex Luthor is a sociopath, but you can't deny that Lexcorp did some incredible things while he was running the place." she let out a sigh that sounded almost mournful, "Why are the smart ones always crazy?"

"Twi..." Rainbow Dash started, her and the others looking at Twilight as if she was crazy, mistaking her words meaning, "Are you saying that you have a thing for Lex Luthor!?"

"Wha-..." Twilight's mouth opened and closed like a fish, trying to process everything that was wrong with what her friends had just said, "NO, I AM NOT!" realizing she had just screamed out loud in a public place, she controlled her tone but sounded no less outraged, "I admire his scientific mind and business sense, that's all! The guy's orchistrated who knows how many awful things, he's a terrible person! How could you possibly think that!?"

"Hey, hey, relax." Sunset soothed her, waving her hands slowly in a placating gesture, "Rainbow Dash was just kidding." she briefly turned and sent a look over at said athlete, "Right?"

Rainbow Dash snickered softly, but gave her scholarly friend an apologetic glance nonetheless, "Yeah, my bad, Twilight. I know none of my pals would be insane enough to crush on Superman's murderer."

Seeming to accept this, Twilight simmered down, letting out a small sigh, "It's fine. I'm just so frustrated that Luthor had ACTUAL clearance to the Kryptonian ship and squandered it by making some big-bad monster that killed Superman! He could've done so much good with that!"

Her friends all let out small sighs of their own, realizing that their scholarly companion had once again gotten into one of her favourite subjects of conversation.

"Darling, you bring up that ship every other day." Rarity stated dryly.

"I can't help it!" Twilight apologized, unable to restrain her enthusiasm and inate scientific passion, "Right there, way over in Metropolis, there is an entire ship of alien technology and knowledge! If someone as terrible as Luthor can use it to make some kind of Frankenstein-monster, imagine what someone with good intentions could do with that stuff!"

The other Rainbooms were quiet, only looking on in amusement as Twilight rested her cheeks in her hands, a far-away, dreamy look in her eyes while her inquisitive mind began to fantasize of what alien secrets could be hiding in the Kryptonian vessel, "What I would give to have access to that ship..."

Rainbow Dash couldn't help herself, asking with a teasing smirk, "Like a night with Lex Luthor?"

The girls all let out outraged gasps before struggling to keep in their laughter but failing miserably. Twilight, on the other hand, was not amused,

"You know what, Rainbow-"

That was all she could say before a loud, muffled yell was heard from outside the cafe, making all of the girls either flinch or yelp in surprise.

On the outside, there were two officers of the CCPD, hard at work to restrain a struggling thug who it seemed was the one doing all of the screaming, all three of them getting soaked by the falling rain. Judging by the burst lip and black-eye one of the officers were sporting, it appeared as if the apprehended man had resisted arrest. The officers pushed the man against the hood of their car, brining out the handcuffs as he kept struggling.

"Oh dear." Fluttershy whimpered, crouching down slightly behind the couch which she had been sitting on, as if to hide herself from what was happening outside.

Rainbow Dash looked a bit jumpy, her fingers twitching as her hand danced awfully close to her geode necklace. A stern look from Sunset made her lower it.

"That's the fifth one today." Twilight remarked with a worried frown, this not being the first time she had seen something like this occuring in the city for the last few days. "The town's always been so peaceful, I don't get it."

"Well, no place is perfect." Sunset acknowledged, not taking her eyes off of the ongoing arrest.

"Yeah, but Canterlot's never exactly been known for its high crime rates." Applejack disputed, hands on her hips as she watched the proceedings with somewhat hardened eyes, "Somethin's makin' criminal's get more active lately. And it ain't just here." she turned towards her friends, "Reports from round the globe shows that crime has sky-rocketed all over these last few weeks."

"Do you think it's because he's dead?"

It was a question asked very softly, in a tone sounding like an odd mix of genuinley curious and sorrowful. All six other girls turned towards the one who had asked, all of them shocked that she out of all of them would ask it in the first place.

"... Pinkie?" Rarity asked after a bout of silence, sounding a tad concerned as she and the others observed the usually jovial pink-skinned girl. For Pinkie was standing oddly still, her large blue eyes staring at what was happening outside of the cafe with an unreadable expression.

"Think about it." she started, her tone surprisingly calm and even as she explained, "The most super-duper powerfulest guy in the world who singlehandedly stopped an alien invasion is gone. All the meanies out there won't have to worry about him swooping down and beating their butts to kingdom come anymore."

Despite some of the more colourful vocabulary, it was a surprisingly astute observation from Pinkie Pie, and it was one that didn't exactly help to fight any unease the other girls already felt, each of them sharing puzzled and slightly troubled looks between them.

"... Superman is dead, girls." Pinkie reminded them at last, turning towards her friends with a worried frown, "Where does that leave us?"

The thug's muffled shouting and the sound of rain rapidly striking the window was all the response she got, for none of her friends had a good answer.