Young Amazons

by Wanderer D

Chapter 06: Past

After Sunset and Zatanna arrived back to the hotel, things were mostly quiet between the two. They each took to their rooms, getting ready for bed.

Sunset finished up washing in the shower before putting on a pair of pajamas that Zatanna had left for her. Her mentor had been kind enough to get her a pair or two of new clothes earlier, since Sunset arrived to Gotham with only what she had been wearing that day. Zatanna told her she’d help buy Sunset a whole wardrobe in the few days before school just to help her fit in with her new surroundings more.

“Really, Zatanna.” Sunset walked out of the bathroom drying her hair with a towel while wearing her new pajamas. “You don’t have to go to all these efforts for me. I can easily just myself a part time job and cover for the clothes at least.” She continued the conversation the two of them were having.

“It’s fine, Sunset. I’m perfectly willing to help you anyway I can. A new wardrobe is necessary regardless, you might be new to this world, but no one here would expect you to have literally nothing in the way of possessions. It would be really strange for any new friends you might make,” Zatanna explained as she sat in the chair that was in the hotel room.

Sunset rubbed the back of her neck as she finished drying off her hair and placing the towel back on the hanger that was on the bathroom door. “Sorry, it’s just I feel that I should at least be trying to do something in return for all the help you and Bruce are doing for me.”

Sunset saw her mentor roll her eyes once more at her continual insistence of not needing help.

“It isn’t a problem, okay, Sunset? Trust me.”

Sunset nodded as she finally relented; she was clearly ready for bed but she still wanted to talk more to Zatanna. “You know, it’s funny… I’m still so excited from that rush of doing good earlier that I can barely fall asleep!”

The older woman laughed upon hearing that confession from Sunset. “Not entirely the thing I expected to hear from you given your initial reluctance, but it is nice to know that you've changed your mind. I honestly think you’ll be a great heroine and a driving force for the forces of Order.”

“Ah, right… you mentioned those forces of Order and Chaos the other day when we first met.” Sunset recalled the first conversation the two of them had where Zatanna said that she had a considerable gift that could be used for good.

But she had also mentioned that Sunset was at risk of falling to her old ways without proper tutelage. Sunset already was a monster before; luckily, no one got hurt before she was forced to see the error of her ways. Still, that was something she really wished not to dwell on anymore.

“I’ve seen plenty of examples of those who use Chaos magic before.” Zatanna was beginning to have a dark look on her face. “So many lives destroyed by those who used the dark arts. I think that anyone that uses dark magic is beyond any point of redemption. I want to make sure you don't stray from the light simply because the rules here are different. Those little changes in how magic works here in contrast to your world could inadvertently lead you to darkness.”

Zatanna put back on a smile after those words, but it deeply troubled Sunset. Now she was truly happy she hadn't pulled a Princess Twilight and blab her whole past. Would Zatanna honestly be doing all this for her if she knew what she had done in the past?

“Sunset?” The young woman nearly jumped as Zatanna’s voice brought her back to reality. Zatanna looked at her curiously before glancing over to the muted TV that had a local story on talking about the earlier events of the night.

One such subject that was obviously being talked about was Bruce Wayne. That was actually a perfect out for Sunset to change the subject. “Hey, there’s Bruce again.” She pointed to the screen. “That reminds me, how old is he?”

Zatanna kept looking at the screen as she saw the pictures being shown were ones taken after Cobblepot and his girls were apprehended and on their way back to Blackgate Prison. She knew she was probably going to be mentioned about bringing them down. “Twenty-three.” She glanced over before looking forward again.

Sunset’s eyes widened. “Twenty-three!? Wow, how is it he’s that young and yet that rich?” Zatanna’s mood darkened once more. “Did I say something wrong?”

Zatanna sighed. “No… no… you didn’t say anything wrong.” She turned back to look at her young charge. “It’s not a good story but I guess you’re gonna hear it eventually.”

Sunset listened on as Zatanna began. “Bruce was the son to Thomas and Martha Wayne. The Waynes were a powerful family similar in terms of the Cobblepots; however, the Waynes were the opposite in terms of personality to them. Thomas was not only the owner of Wayne Corp. but he was also a doctor.”

“One night, the Waynes were leaving the Monarch Theater late at night and made a wrong turn and went down an alley.” Zatanna paused for a moment. “There was a mugger waiting there. He… he gunned Bruce’s parents right before his eyes. He was only eight.”

Sunset was suddenly horrified with what she just heard. She assumed Bruce’s parents probably were gone, but nothing this tragic. She also realized just how lucky she was with those thugs that tried to attack when she first arrived to Gotham; just how quick it could’ve been for her to be an anonymous corpse in the alleys.

“Two of the last bright lights in this city, snuffed out just like that,” Zatanna added. “I can’t even imagine what Bruce was going through those first few years before I met him.”

To Sunset, that recent revelation really shook her; neither Equestria nor Canterlot High was this remotely violent. But in a way, with that story, Sunset felt like she had a sort of connection with Bruce; like kindred spirits.

“I can sort of relate to that,” she quietly spoke up as she leaned back and lay on the bed; her eyes now looking up at the ceiling. Zatanna raised an eyebrow in curiosity with what Sunset said.

“Would you be so kind as to explain?” The magician asked.

Sunset took a deep breath. Perhaps now would be a good time for her to tell the truth; well, most of it. The she-demon and dark magic stuff could be left out… for now.

“Unlike Bruce, I never knew my parents. My earliest memories of my life were that of being raised in an orphanage,” Sunset began.

“I understand. Orphanages are sometimes a random chance; some are good, others can be bad,” Zatanna said.

Sunset sat up as she said that. “No, it wasn’t…” Sunset closed her eyes and took another deep breath. “Okay, Zatanna, when you found me, it… it wasn’t the first time I had jumped dimensions.”

“Come again?” Zatanna tilted her head.

“Canterlot High's world wasn’t my original home. I actually come from a land called Equestria. It’s a large world populated by many magical creatures; dragons, hydras, griffons, mostly creatures that are considered fantasy here. The most predominant species in Equestria… are ponies… and I’m one as well.”

“Ponies? Like the whole world is ruled by horses?”

“No, ponies. We’re a bit smaller compared to actual horses. Equestria is separated into three main races of ponies; there are a few subclasses but the main ones are these...” Sunset paused and held up her left hand.

“First.” She put up her index finger. “There are Earth ponies. They are closer to the ground in terms of their improved strength and their connection with land and animals. They tend to have a range of jobs but most food grown in Equestria is done by Earth ponies. In short, we’d probably starve without them.”

“Next.” Sunset held up her middle finger next to her index finger. “There’s the Pegasi. They’re ponies with wings on their backs which allow them to fly. They also have the ability to walk on clouds which several of their cities are built out of them. They also have control over the weather; meaning they can clear the sky on a sunny day or move storm clouds to an area that needs rain.”

“Finally.” Sunset held up her ring finger. “There’s Unicorns, ponies with horns on their heads; I was born a Unicorn by the way. Anyways, we have the ability to use our horns to perform magic. While all Earth and Pegasi have some small innate magic to them, Unicorns are able to perform spells and vast magical feats.”

Sunset could tell that what she had just told the older magician completely surprised her. She wondered if the thought of not being human originally ever crossed Zatanna’s mind.

The next few minutes Sunset explained a little bit more about Equestria and some of the vast differences between the realms. Zatanna soon asked if Sunset could return to the original conversation and explain a bit more about her past.

“Oh, right, sorry,” Sunset apologized, “well, the first thing I need to mention is that Equestria is ruled by a powerful Alicorn named Princess Celestia. An Alicorn is a combination of all three races. Unicorn horn, Pegasi wings, that sort of thing. Celestia herself is responsible for rising the sun.

“She’s also immortal and has ruled Equestria for...” Sunset quickly shook her head. “Longer than I could possibly guess.” She decided not to mention Luna as that was something for another time.

Sunset paused for a moment so she could get a glass of water as she was feeling a bit dry. “Now, then, for the first few years of my life, I was living in the orphanage. I was about five years old when Celestia discovered me there and realized that I had considerable potential.”

“And I must guess that she took you under her wing?” Zatanna then chuckled at the pun.

Sunset, on the other hand, wasn’t as in a humorous mood considering she felt much guilt in the memories. “Yes, she took me in as her student. The express purpose was more or less to groom me into being a princess and a ruler of Equestria, similar to what she did with her adopted niece, Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Who?” Zatanna interrupted.

“She was a Pegasus that Celestia made into an Alicorn. She’s the Princess of Love and ruler of the Crystal Empire. Her husband is Shining Armor who is the older brother of my friend Twilight. She was a unicorn before becoming an Alicorn and the Princess of Friendship.”

Sunset took another sip of water. “For the first few years of being raised by Celestia, I felt good, it was nice; looking back, Celestia was less of a teacher and more like a mother to me.”

“However, I suppose with many children, I soon grew resentful of her. As the years went on, I slowly became more impatient, selfish, and greedy. I honestly thought that Celestia was holding me back; that I was ready to become a princess.” She started to feel some tears building in her eyes.

Sunset took a moment to compose herself, then quickly wiped her face to get rid of them. “Looking back, I was the one holding myself back, not her. We started to argue and get angrier at each other before we…” She paused as she was careful not to reveal the entire truth. “She said I was no longer her student and planned to have me escorted out of the castle.”

“Now, some time before, I found this magic mirror that showed me what I desired that Celestia told me also contained a portal to another world. In my anger, I fought off her guards and made a dash for the mirror. Next thing I know, I’m human and at Canterlot High.”

“That explains that thing you said about being orange.” Sunset remembered one of the first things that she had said to Zatanna when she arrived in Gotham.

“Yes.” Sunset nodded. “At Canterlot High, it was quite a surprise with the vast changes and the fact that the school was run by a human counterpart of Celestia, but I figured things out pretty fast. I did a lot of hurtful stuff and was a real jerk to almost every one as I lusted for power in the school.

“I always planned to return eventually when I could prove Celestia that she was wrong to deny me of my destiny.” Sunset sighed as she just let the terrible memories flood.

“So, what changed?” Sunset guess that Zatanna was curious to know how Sunset became the girl that sat in front of her.

“Twilight happened.” Sunset smiled. “She arrived in Canterlot High one day and after a few augments, she showed me the magic of friendship; she truly turned my life around that day. From then on, I made it an effort to try and right the wrongs I made and apologize to those I hurt.”

“And things were better from then on?” Zatanna concluded.

“Very much so. Things did get better… until recently when the human version of Twilight let curiosity overwhelm her and she ended up tapping into magic she really shouldn’t have messed with,” Sunset added before drinking some more water.

“Something went wrong that you had to fix but then ended up here. I think I got that right?” Sunset nodded at Zatanna’s guess.

“Yep, and here we are now.” The young girl finished her drink then started to move the covers on the bed as she was ready for bed. “Sorry, this whole conversation has made me a bit sleepy.” She yawned before she crawled in.

“Okay.” Zatanna walked over and patted her on the shoulder. “You’ve had a long day, you should get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning then.” She started to walk for the hotel room’s door.

“Zatanna,” the tired apprentice spoke up. “One thing I forgot to say was that if you find me a way back home, I know what the first thing I would do. Go back to Equestria and reconcile with Celestia.”

Zatanna smiled at what she said. “Sunset, I promise I will try to find your home so you can do just that. Good night.” She flipped off the light switch to the room and then closed the door behind her; using her magic to lock it so Sunset wouldn’t have to get back up to do it.

“Miss Zatara? Miss Zatara?” Zatanna woke up after hearing the knocking coming from the door of her hotel room. She was still pretty groggy as she didn’t sleep much last night; trying to take care of Sunset’s future plans of being a crime-fighter required her to stay up later than normal.

She put on a robe from the hotel to make herself more decent before opening the door to a bellhop. “Good morning, ma’am. Letter just came in for you.” He handed it to her before walking away.

Zatanna looked at the letter and saw that it was addressed from the Wayne Foundation. This letter clearly had to be the results Wayne Foundation Scholarship that Sunset hopefully qualified for. While tempted to open herself—considering she was technically Sunset’s legal guardian—she resisted the urge: this was something that Sunset should do herself.

“Wow, they were fast,” Sunset admitted when she was handed the letter. She was eating some cereal that Zatanna brought back from the breakfast buffet downstairs while she slept.

“Well, that’s the beauty of the twenty-first century sometimes. Come on, Sunset, open it. I’m sure you did well,” Zatanna said with an encouraging smile.

“Okay...” Sunset had a bit of hesitation in her voice before she started to open it. When she did, her eyes widened as she read it. “N-n-ninety-two! I made a ninety-two!” She exclaimed.

“That’s amazing Sunset!” Zatanna walked over and looked over the results. Beyond the overall grade, it elaborated on how she did in each individual subject. “Straight A+ 's on everything except history which is a C and that’s to be understood.”

“Yeah, I kind of just guessed with most of those questions, I’m honestly surprised I did that good enough there,” Sunset confessed.

“With this score, you more than qualify for the Wayne Foundation Scholarship and you would be more than qualified to attend Gotham High." Zatanna brightened up as a thought crossed her mind. "Oh, by the way, I got another gift for you that showed up in the lobby for me.”

“Please.” Sunset held up her hands. “You’ve already done so much for me, Zatanna.”

The older woman chuckled. “Sorry, but you can’t say no to this.” She then tossed some keys into Sunset’s hands.

“What is this?” She asked.

“That, Sunset, is the keys to your new apartment.” Sunset’s eyes went wide. “Now, as I said before, I’m not going to be around Gotham all the time and you need a place to stay. It’s a pretty calm area and near the school. I trust you can take care of yourself?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, I can. When I first arrived to Canterlot High, I had to do that. I said before that the gems I had on me were valuable, but I didn’t have any sort of identity so there was no way for me to get an apartment. I actually slept in the school’s gym secretly for a while before Twilight came and then I slept in Principal Celestia’s guest bedroom. I was thinking of getting a place near the school soon.”

“Well, now you have your own place. And before I forget, this wasn’t my idea actually; Bruce is the one covering for it,” Zatanna added. “We’ll check it out in a bit, but there’s some things I need to show and tell you.” Zatanna made a few hand gestures before opening a portal in the room.

Dr. Fate was standing with his back opposite of Zatanna and Sunset who were sitting on a sofa in the Tower of Fate. “A unicorn. Fascinating.”

“Thank you?” Sunset said warily. Fate was not being actively threatening, but he still off an aura that felt cold and distant. Zatanna obviously knew he was on the level, but perhaps he knew more about her than he let on. For all Sunset knew, he had read her mind and discovered her past.

“And now Mrs. Zatara informs me that you wish to join our cause against the forces of Chaos.” Again, Fate refused to even look her direction, the only acknowledgement of her presence a slight tilt of the head in her direction. Perhaps he was contemplating a vast mountain of ideas, but Sunset felt it was more like he was just simply forcing himself to tolerate her presence by not facing her directly.

Normally she would be irritated by this kind of attitude, but Zatanna had warned her before coming over that he was not someone she wanted to provoke. For better or worse, she needed to suck it up for now, until she won his trust or acceptance.

“When you first arrived, Fate and I talked about how you could be of a great help to us; that is with some proper training and only if you truly want to,” Zatanna reminded her.

“Well, I was already well trained in magic, but not in a human form, so I guess I’m kinda back to square one.” Sunset felt herself blushing slightly at the thought of having to do the equivalent of magical kindergarten again.

Zatanna put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “You don’t need to worry or feel ashamed about that. Here, you’ll be able to gain a wealth of knowledge and—as I said yesterday—this place exists outside of space and time, so you can spend as much time as you wish to study.”

Sunset chuckled upon hearing that. “If you said that to Twilight… it would be a big mistake as you probably would never get that bookworm to leave.”

“Now then, Sunset,” Zatanna spoke up again. “You should learn how to open up gates as soon as possible to be able to reach this place, as well as the locations of some of my friends who can also give you some valuable training to help you with fighting crime.”

“Don’t worry about me leaving though, I still teach you most of you need to learn,” Zatanna quickly assured her young assistant. “If not in Gotham, then certainly here in this place.”

“Here.” Fate turned around and held up his hand. A book floated off from one of the shelves and flew into his grasp. He then handed it to Sunset, not letting it go when she took it.. “This book should help you get some basics in using magic; I’ll also make sure to give you what you need to learn how to open a portal to this place,” he said flatly, finally releasing the tome.

Sunset nodded as she looked at the book. “Thank you Zatanna. I’m truly thankful that I was found by someone like you rather than someone who was… evil.”

“You’re more than welcome,” Zatanna said. Fate then motioned Zatanna to talk with him away from Sunset.

“Admit it, you like her.” Zatanna smirked as they entered another room. The long silence that Fate gave clearly meant that he was in no laughing mood. She had heard stories about how serious and no nonsense Fate was. Today Zatanna knew that those stories were all true. “Okay, what’s the issue?”

Fate kept his back turned to Zatanna once more. “You well know what the issue is. She poses a considerable danger. Her magic is raw and almost like nothing this world has never seen. It would be better if we just kept her here. At least here, she would be less of a threat to the world.”

“I swear, you sound more like a villain right now," Zatanna said, crossing her arms. "She’s just a girl; okay, a former unicorn, and perhaps she might be a bit unpredictable, but you’ve got to give her a chance. I thought we already agreed on this the other day.”

"I think that you might be placing too much trust in her for pulling off the stunt she did last night. We don't know her. We know nothing of her world, or her true motivations." He held Zatanna's eyes in his own. "You are lucky she decided not to use magic, or we would be dealing with agents of Chaos trying to reach her as well."

“I think you’re being paranoid. All they would see right now is a young girl that helped me take down some thieves at a show. They would assume the magic was mine. Nothing at all to worry about.”

“That remains to be seen. If what she said was true about this so called Princess Celestia… if she has even a fraction of the power that she claims that Princess has, then she is a real threat. She might not even know her full potential, to both her detriment and ours.”

Zatanna paused as she contemplated this. “Now that you mention it, I do believe that she was a bit hesitant in her story, like she was trying to hold something back.”

“Then my concerns might be more valid than you want to admit after all.”

Zatanna looked back at him. “You can't use that as some sort of proof to lock her away. She left in anger and learned her lesson. She wants to return to apologize to her teacher, and this other princess, Twilight, already considers her a friend. I think she's just a teenager that is afraid she might be rejected by her mother figure if she just goes back.”

Fate took a deep breath. “If you so insist, but I’m still going to keep my eye on her. Perhaps you are correct, but don’t let yourself be so completely blinded,” he said.

“Trust me. I’m not letting my guard down entirely. But I do think she’s honestly a good girl. She’ll certainly be quite the student… and friend.” Zatanna then began to move to the door to the room to rejoin Sunset.

“We’ll see…” she heard Fate whisper ominously.

Zatanna unlocked the door to the apartment after Sunset and her returned back from the Tower of Fate. Bruce was certainly right about the place. It certainly was a calm area and was only a few blocks away from the school. Sunset only needed to walk through the nearby park then go around a city block and she was there.

“This is a really nice place,” Sunset said as she looked around. It was a small two bedroom apartment with one full bath. Although it was already tastefully decorated already, it didn't really have much personality, at least to what she guessed were her young charge’s tastes. But if Sunset was going to be living here, Zatanna knew that she would definitely make the place more… hers.

“Indeed.” She smiled as Sunset looked into the bedrooms while Zatanna checked one of the phones that was left and discovered a listening bug. She shook her head and then leaned in. “Bruce, it’s quite rude to spy on young girls,” she whispered teasingly, knowing that he would hear the message, before she turned it off.

She knew she was going to have to sweep the place of bugs but knew that Bruce only did this because he obviously was curious of Sunset and her seemly mysterious past.

“Did you say something, Zatanna?” Sunset poked her head out of the bedroom she decided was hers.

Zatanna shook her head. “No, just thinking out loud.”

“Okay. Well, I think I’m going to like this place. Especially this room.” She grinned before looking somewhat disheartened. “You know, it’s funny. I actually had my own place in Equestria, right in Celestia’s castle.”

Zatanna walked over to her and smiled. “Would getting some new clothes and furnishings for this place help?” She tried to cheer her up.

Sunset responded by giving her a smile. “Oh, yes, definitely.”

“Okay, Sunset. You can do this,” Sunset said to herself as she took a deep breath.

The past few days had gone by fast. Zatanna helped her out with her clothing and sprucing up her apartment before she left the day before to continue her tour.

At the same time, Sunset was doing what she could to try and get a bit settled into her new reality. Zatanna left her a list of events to look out for in terms of history and pop culture; just to make sure that Sunset wasn’t as much of a standout in school.

The list also contained what she should focus on learning in terms of magic as she was to begin preparing to do hero work; though Zatanna told her she could take all the time she needed until she felt she was fully ready.

Right now, Sunset was focusing on being a good junior attending Gotham High. She stood right by the gate as multiple students were already walking to class as they prepared for the new school year. She could hear many of them bellyaching about how summer vacation was now over.

“Sunset!” She could hear Barbara’s voice calling out to her. She turned around and saw the red-headed girl running up to her before trying to catch her breath. “Sorry, my mom’s car had a flat tire and I had to run the rest of the way here,” she explained.

“Relax; I think we still got plenty of time,” Sunset assured her.

The two girls talked on their way into the building. “So, how was the show? Heard that creep Penguin crashed the show when we left.”

Sunset stopped for a moment as she was asked. “Er, yeah, he did show up. He spent some time telling everyone about how he lured away the GCPD and planned to rob everyone.”

Barbara’s eyes were twinkling, making it clear that she wanted to hear every detail. “Is it true that Zatanna beat up his two knife girls? What did you do?”

Sunset almost didn’t want to say anything but knew that there wasn’t much to hide; at least with that night. “Well, the detective that was left behind got electrocuted by the creep so I had to save her. Knocked his cords away with a metal pole then he chased me back stage. Zatanna beat up his helpers while I dropped some sandbags on him.”

Barbara's smile grew with every word Sunset said. “That’s amazing! That was one of the coolest things I ever heard! If I did something like that, my dad would have a fit! I actually always wanted to be an officer like him but he doesn’t want me to put my life in danger like that.”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, well, I was actually really scared at that moment, if I’m honest. Don’t ever want to do something like that again.” That wasn’t fully a lie. Yes, she wanted to stop more folks like Cobblepot, but at least next time go in better prepared.

The two girls soon walked into their assigned homeroom and found sheets of paper on the front desk that included their class schedules. Neither girl had time to go over them together as the bell suddenly rang and the two of them ran to their seats.

“Good morning!” A middle aged, brown hair man greeted as he walked in. “I’m Mr. Peterson and I’d like to welcome some of you back to another year here at Gotham High. If you’re a freshman or a transfer, then let me be the first to welcome you. It’s going to be a memorable year, so let’s get started, shall we?”

Sunset smirked, already thinking about her future as a heroine and how things would change. Mr. Peterson was right: it was certainly going to be quite a year.