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?