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// Chapter 2 Breakfast Conversation 
// Story: Gotham City Heroes (rewritten version) 
// by Batfan98 
//------------------------------//

Night was a more fitting time for Gotham, for it looked more gothic that way. But the morning sun looked out of place as it rose over the city. It's beams shined through the window of the bedroom where Scootaloo was resting. Her tired eye lies slowly opened as she gave a big yawn.

"Some dream I had last night." she said. But once she got a good look at her surroundings, it was enough to convince her otherwise.

The little filly stretched her forelegs over her head before she removed the covers over her and simply crawled out of the bed. She was about to reach the door before she noticed that the knob was turning. She assumed that it was Bruce, but she was proven wrong when the door opened.

Standing there was a human that Scootaloo has never seen before. He appeared to be older than Bruce and wore a black suit with a red vest underneath his tail coat. On his hands were egg white gloves and on his feat were shiney, black leather shoes.

Above his lip stood a mustache and a bald spot was atop of his head. He appeared to be surprised by Scootaloo's appearance, but returned to his calm manner.

"Oh dear," he muttered in an elegant accent that was similar to Rarity's "it appears Master Bruce did mean it when we had a strange guest. Although he failed to mention that it was a new pet."

Scootaloo was taken aback by this "Hey, I'm not a pet."

The human's eyes widened as they were filled with more surprise and shock "It talks?!"

Scootaloo now grew nervous and tried to think about a better way of handling the situation "Uh, sorry about that."

The human still remained shocked.

"Uh," Scoots averted her eyes "I-I'm with Bruce."

"So he said," the human appeared to slowly loose his cautiousness "forgive me for those rude words, it's just that Master Bruce didn't very much explain your appearance."

Scootaloo shrugged "Eh, I'll let it pass. My name is Scootaloo by the way." she held out her hoof.

The human accepted as they both shook hand/hoof.

"Alfred Pennyworth, at you service."

"So," Scootaloo began "what connection do you have with Bruce?"

Alfred slightly shrugged "I hack into an area's security system that master Bruce, as the Batman, infilrates and provide him with assistance from our headquarters." his facial expression seemed calm and elegant "I also do his dry cleaning."

Scootaloo chuckled at that last part.

"By the way," Alfred spoke up again "Master Bruce has sent me to fetch you for breakfast; I've prepared it myself."

Alfred took a step out the door as he awaited the young filly to follow. Once she did, he simply closed her door behind her as he led her though the hallways of the manor.

It was a ginormous place; the hallways seemed long and the windows were tall enough to show a clear view of the yard outside. The place also had an elegant touch to it; the long carpets were bright red, the floors were grey marble, and there were several paintings on the walls. One painting that caught Scootaloo's eye was one of a man wearing a black suit that looked old, probably from history, and the plack on the frame read 'Solomon Wayne'.

It wasn't long until Alfred ended up taking Scootaloo to a pair of double doors. As Alfred opened them, he stood aside to let Scootaloo walk in see that this was what seemed to be a dining room, due to the long dining table.

At the table sat Bruce, Harold, and Ace in a dog's bed eating his food from a silver bowl with his name incripted on it. Then there was also an unfamiliar human who looked younger than the other ones present.

Bruce raised his head from his plate of scrambled eggs, "Good morning," he greeted, yet still remained in his stoic manner "did you sleep well?"

Scootaloo smiled and nodded "Oh yeah, I slept pretty good."

The young filly made her way over to the table and sat up on a chair opposite of Bruce.

"Hey, Harold?" she greeted the hunchback who replyed with a wave.

She then noticed the young man sitting at the table, eating scrambled eggs. He appeared as if he was somewhere around eighteenand and he had short black hair similar to Bruce.

"So uh," Scootaloo began, getting his attention as he turned his head towards her "what's your name?"

"I'm Tim. Tim Drake." he smiled "You saw me last night as Red Robin."

Scootaloo averted her eyes in thought until she dug up a memory of the red and black superhero with a boe start last night.

"Oh yeah," she realized "and by the way, where is that other one?"

"Who do you mean?" Tim asked.

"The one that was a girl."

"Oh yeah," Tim realized "that was Batgirl; her real name's Cassandra, she's one of us."

Scootaloo nodded in understanding "Where is she?"

"Back at her home." Bruce answered. "She lives in the clock tower with one of our colleagues."

Scootaloo's head turned in Bruce's direction with a raised eyebrow "She lives in a clock tower?"

Bruce nodded "Yes, an apartment is set up there."

Scoots nodded nodded understanding and then noticed Alfred walk up next to her.

"I have prepared scrambled eggs. Would you like that or perhaps have something else instead?"

"Scrambled eggs will be good." Scootaloo smiled.

Alfred nodded "Would you care for a drink?"

The orange filly nodded "Sure, orange juice would be nice."

Alfred nodded as he left through the double doors of the kitchen. A few moments later he emerged through the doors with a plate of scrambled eggs held in one hand and a glass of orange juice in another. He set them down in front of Scootaloo as she picked her lips at the sight of them.

"Will you be needing anything else?" the butler asked the orange filly.

"No thanks," she replied "I'm good."

Alfred turned his head in Bruce's direction "What about you, master Bruce?"

"That'll be all, Alfred."

Now Alfred turned his head toward Tim and Harold "And what about you two?"

"We're good, Al." Tim said and Harold nodded in agreement.

Alfred nodded in understanding as he made his way out of the dining room.

"So," Scootaloo spoke up after taking a bite of her eggs "how do you guys know each other?"

"Alfred has worked for my father when I was a child," Bruce explained "he's still the family butler up to today."

Scoots nodded as the information was processed into her brain.

"Harold also works as an electrical engineer at Wayne Industries," Bruce explained "a company I own."

"Oh, so does he live here with you?" Scoots asked.

"He use to," Bruce explained before taking a bite of his eggs. After a moment he swallowed "but he decided he wanted to move out, so I helped him get a house of his own."

"Why'd he live with you? If you don't mind me asking."

"I found him on the streets," Bruce explained.

"Actually it's more of Harold found you." Tim pointed out.

"Anyway," Bruce continued "the Batmobile crashed when I was chasing down some car jackers. He brought my car to an old factory where he lived and helped me fix it. I saw his talents and offered to give him a home, he accepted. I trusted him with my identity and gave him a job at my company."

"When he moved out he found the dog," Tim pointed to Ace, now relaxing on his dog bed "took him in and named him Ace."

"Harold has been a great help to us," Bruce went further "he repairs gadgets and sometimes creates his own inventions for us to use." The billionaire took another bite of his eggs and swallowed before explaining "He's going to be staying with us for a while until we find him a new home since the League of Assassins, the people who kidnaped you, knows where he lives."

Scootaloo nodded again in understanding before leaning her head down and taking a bite of her eggs.

When she swallowed, she turned to Tim "So, how do you know Bruce?"

Tim shrugged "Well, when we first met, I was fourteen. I was pretty good at detective work that I found out who Batman was."

"You know detective work?" Scootaloo asked.

Tim nodded "Yeah, my dad was a cop and I watched a lot of mystery noir shows on TV."

Scoots raised an eyebrow "TV?"

"Uh," Tim thought for a moment on how to better explain it "it's like some kind of box with a screen that shows you stories visually."

Scootaloo's eyes widened in wonder, that sounded cool.

"Anyway, I noticed that he was..." Tim rubbed the back of his head, hoping to find a better description. Sure he could tell her that Bruce was being more violent towards criminals, but then she might ask why. He didn't think Bruce would want her to know about...that one thing that happened.

"Uh," it took a while, but he found an explanation "he needed a partner, because he couldn't fight crime alone." Okay he knew that wasn't entirely true, but it's better than telling her the full truth.

Bruce knew what Tim was doing and nodded a thank you to him.

Scootaloo shrugged "Okay, that makes sense."

"Alright," Tim began "so I approached him and said he needed a new partner. At first he refused, but later he was convinced. Then I became Robin."

"You mean 'Red Robin'?" how could you forget your own superhero name?

"Uh, no," Tim explained "back then it was just Robin. I was a different superhero and wore a different suit."

"Oh," Scoots now fully understood.

"Anyway, a year ago I retired from the mantle, because I was too old for it. Now I'm a standalone hero and I'm the leader of a superhero team called the Teen Titans."

Scootaloo's eyes widdened to the size of the plate before her. "There are other superheroes in this world?"

Bruce nodded "Yes, we're not the only ones."

Scootaloo's head turned in Bruce's direction "That is so cool," she exclaimed "have you met some of them?"

Bruce nodded "Yes, each of us have a different city to protect and some have different abilities."

Scootaloo's excited smile grew "So, you mean that some have superpowers?"

Bruce nodded at her question.

Scootaloo then turned her head back to Tim "What about the Teen Titans? Who are they?"

Time chuckled slightly, he was beginning to like this kid "It's a team of teenage suoerheroes," he explained "they reside in Jump City and they have their own HQ, called the Titans' Tower, which looks like a capital T."

Scootaloo was marveled by this as she turned her attention back to Bruce "What about you?" she asked "Are you part of a superhero team?"

Bruce nodded "Yes, we're called the Justice League."

Scootaloo just couldn't contain her excitement "That, and Teen Titans," she added looking back at Tim "sounds like the coolest team name ever!" she gasped as another question popped in her head "Who do they consist of? What are their powers?"

Before her questions were answered the little filly felt a hand on her shoulder as she looked to her left to see it's owner.

"Maybe you could look that all up on the Batcomputer and show you around the Batcave," Tim offered, but her averted his eyes to Bruce "if that's okay with you."

Bruce nodded "Yes that'd be fine, but first let's finish our breakfast."

The humans, with the pony added, resumed their eating, but Scootaloo couldn't hold the excitement inside of her. She was living out any other fall's dream; she was in a world of superheroes. If only the others back in Equestria could see this.

Equestria...home. The thought just came back to her mind as she remembered her friends from back home. Will she ever see them again? How will they react to her being gone? Hopefully they are doing alright.