//------------------------------// // Beasts Within, Part 2 // Story: Batmare Beyond // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As Bruce continued Rarity's physical examination, Rarity became more and more perturbed. "Father, what's happened to me?" she demanded petulantly. "Not now, Rarity," he replied, continuing to scan her new wings with the computer, as well as analyzing the mouth swab he'd taken with the genetic scanner. "Father, where did these wings come from?" she demanded. "The last thing I remember is blacking out after Dr. Cuvier injected me with something-" "Rarity, be patient," Bruce scolded. "I need to concentrate." He began running more scans over her limbs, her horn, and even using some of the diagnostic magitek Victor and Rachel had sent to scan her magical aura. "Father!" Rarity whined. "Right now it's taking all my self control not to freak out! I need answers!" Bruce turned to face her. "Rarity, all I know for sure is that right now something is going on, with your magic, with your mind...for all I know, with your very soul. Your magic is driven by thought. Right now, incomplete information is more dangerous to you than no information. So please, be patient until I have all the information I can give you." Blinking, Rarity nodded. "I'll try, Father," she promised. After that, Bruce continued his examination in silence. When he finished, he turned to face her. "Alright, I think I can explain some of what's happened to you. I want to give you as much information as I can before you seek the rest of the answers. I'm not entirely sure the one who has them can be trusted." As Rarity opened her mouth to question, Bruce held up his hand to silence her. "We'll get to that." When she nodded, he sat back, arranging his thoughts. "When you were kicked into the power lines, your suit electrified. As a result of the circuitry that amplifies your magic, that electricity was channeled straight down your horn and into your brain." Bruce frowned. "That's a rather glaring weakness for your suit, as a single intense electrical attack will disable you in any fight, and a sufficiently intense one could permanently cripple you. Unfortunately, not only can we not do anything about that - without that amplification, your magic isn't strong enough for combat, and you're too small to be able to act against most human opponents without it - but it has already rendered your horn sensitive - and somewhat vulnerable - to electrical current. You'll need to watch out for it in the future. "Dr. Cuvier injected you with what for your body weight was an overdose of vampire bat serum," Bruce continued. "Normally, this would result in a mutation that would include physical alterations including bat wings and a mouthful of fangs, as well as uncontrollable rage that would render you nearly mindless." He patted a gun nearby. "On the off chance something like this might happen, I'd prepared a dose of antimutagen, altered to be based on your DNA rather than human." Rarity raised an eyebrow. "How is it you knew how to prepare such antimutagen? And why did you have to alter the base from human?" Bruce smirked. "The reason I feared splicing would make a mess we'd have to clean up is because it wouldn't be the first such mess a Bat had to clean up...and I had to use the antimutagen on myself a time or two." "I see," Rarity observed. "But then why do I still have wings?" "The splicing didn't work as intended with you," Bruce explained. "Your magical and genetic aura accepted and incorporated the vampire bat strain, making it a part of you. As a result, you didn't even get the extra aggression the process normally creates. I have a few theories as to why, but no real evidence..." Rarity smiled. "Given how little information you have on unicorns - and my variety of unicorn in particular - I would wager based on how smoothly it was incorporated from what I can see of the display that my species comes in multiple forms - not all unicorn - with a common genetic anchor which allows crossbreeding, and that one variety naturally had bat wings." She glanced back over her shoulder as she spread her new wings. "That's really the only explanation as to why they came in looking so...regal and elegant." She fanned her wings, momentarily distracted with how the dim light of the cavern refracted through the thin membrane into a monochromatic rainbow on the floor. Bruce nodded. "That speculation is as viable as any. However...that's not all that happened." Rarity turned away from her wings as she folded them to her sides. "This is where you're going to explain why I don't remember the wings coming in, amongst other things?" Bruce nodded. "Apparently, the combination of the lightning through the core of your mind and magic, plus the injection of bat serum...awoke something. There's...another being inside of you. She's the one I brought up who probably has the answers we need, the one who I don't think can be trusted...especially as all I know about her for sure is that she's egocentric, dislikes being thwarted, and calls herself the Nightmare." Rarity giggled. "No wonder you don't like her, Father," she joked. "She sounds just like you." Bruce gave her a pained look. "Just teasing," Rarity simpered at him. "I know this is serious...but the fact that I am in control now implies I have some sort of leverage over her, so it's not the end of the world yet." Bruce sighed. "She did say your will was too strong for her to control you completely," he explained. He then grinned. "She blames me for that." "I'm my Father's daughter, after all," the filly bragged. "From both sides of his being." Bruce nodded. "Well, I've prepped you as best I can. She said you can call her to your mind with the phrase, 'When night falls, the Mare Rises'." Rarity chuckled. "Someone has a flair for the dramatic," she murmured. "When night falls, the Mare Rises." Her vision went white. She found herself standing inside a building, small from her experience...though everything inside seemed sized to someone of her stature...or at least an adult of her stature. The carpet was pale purple, expanding in circles that alternated with paler purple. Pinkish purple curtains hung from several walls, surrounding circular mirrors. a golden platform stood in the center of the room, surrounded by mirrors. Nearby the platform was a mannequin similar to the ones she'd designed to hang her day to day outfits from, which stood in her room in Wayne Manor. A gorgeous pink, purple, and gold dress studded with gemstones adorned the mannequin. "You really don't remember this place, do you?" an unexpected voice asked. Rarity spun. On the golden platform, she saw a darker reflection of herself. The eyes were black slits in sapphire irises, surrounded by pale blue corneas. The coat was dark purple, and the mark on her flank was three bright blue stars surrounded by a field of small white ones. The mane and tail were ethereal, flowing around the filly in a field of purple speckled with stars, a single white streak running through each. The horn was also longer and sharper than Rarity's own. Dark purple bat wings were folded against her sides. "...Nightmare, I presume?" Rarity spoke up. Nightmare admired herself in the mirrors, spreading her wings. "I must admit, I look much better in your body than the one I was born from. While intimidating, black was never a good color for anything but striking fear. This dark purple...much better for the things I've come to enjoy. And these wings!" She admired her wings anew. "I'll really have to thank Dr. Cuvier for them before breaking him in half. Membrane is so much better for the look I'm going for than feathers. So much easier to clean, too, and the difference in lift generation is minuscule when the magic shoulders most of the burden, anyway." Rarity chuckled, having admired herself in the mirror often enough to recognize her own streak of vanity when she saw it. "What is this place? I know it's my mindscape, but why does it look like this?" Nightmare turned to stare at her. "Truly? You recollect this place not at all?" She slipped into a more archaic speech pattern with a slight smirk on her face, as though internally laughing at a private joke. "It...it is familiar, but..." Rarity's voice trailed off as she glanced around. "I just can't quite place it. Is...is it a clothing store?" She glanced out the windows, but there was nothing beyond them to see but stars. "Hmm..." Nightmare mused. "Things are more different than I thought. No wonder the old anchors...never mind. Come with me." Nightmare stepped down from the platform and led the way through the building to a table where high tea had been prepared. "We have much to discuss." Rarity took a seat at the table, sipping the tea. "Quite delicious," she murmured, "but I don't recognize the flavor..." Nightmare smiled sadly. She then refocused her face. "Have you figured out who and what I am?" Rarity thought for a time. "As best as I'm able to determine...you're some sort of mordant beast. At some point, you were a part of an entity, but were forcibly separated somehow to become your own being. The exceptionally dark color scheme seems to point to you being a sort of 'negative twin', especially what you said about once being pure black." She took another sip of tea. "But whoever you were once a part of, you weren't their evil side...just an amalgamation of all their negative emotions that eventually became its own personality. Somehow you were forcibly extracted from that person...and now you're part of me somehow." Nightmare's smile was wide and devious. "While I can't say I like how much stronger your will is, I must say I love the other changes. He has done an excellent job training you." Nightmare wriggled and seemed to flex. A dark aura expanded off her into ether, and Rarity felt her reaching out to touch the corners of her mind. "There's so much more to work with here." "So Father's right about me being reverse aged somehow, then?" Rarity asked incisively. Nightmare chuckled. "Naughty, naughty...you've been peeking at his files. What would he say?" Rarity chuckled. "He'd probably be torn between irritation at my invading his privacy and pride that I was able to hack his security." Nightmare's laugh was full-throated. "Oh, you are a fun one now." Her grin returned. "But I'm afraid I'm not going to answer any of those questions just now. You'll do better as you are if you leave those mysteries unanswered just now." "You don't really expect me to actually do so, do you?" Rarity asked pointedly. "Not really," Nightmare replied. "But don't expect me to help until the time is right." "Fair enough," Rarity allowed. "Now...what do you want?" "Straight to the point, hmm? Good." Nightmare took a sip from her own teacup. "Ah, a taste of home." "If you don't want me pursuing those mysteries, why offer tidbits like that?" Rarity inquired. "Because I enjoy watching you squirm," Nightmare explained. "As you said, I'm a mordant beast; the negative half of a soul forged into its own being. I'm little different from a demon reveling in torture, save torture's not really my thing. I much prefer battles, whether of swords or wits." She leaned back. "But as to my wants... "We're stuck sharing this body. Now that I'm active, I want to be able to do things, or at least be able to make some of the decisions or interact with others. But I can't just wrest control from you. However, if I fight against you, you'll have trouble maintaining control." Nightmare smiled. "What does that suggest to you?" "You want to draw up terms for us to share control of my body?" Rarity asked archly. "At the moment, it's our body," Nightmare corrected. "You're the one who originally let me in, both before and now when you let me out." "It wasn't exactly my choice to get kicked into-" "That just broke the cage," Nightmare corrected. "The first time you opened the door to me was the first day you donned the suit." She smiled slowly. "I feed on fear. It's in my nature to instill it. When you chose to be Batmare, whether you knew it or not you chose to make me a part of you again, albeit in a different way." Rarity sighed, taking another sip of tea. "Very well. What sort of control do you want?" "Right off the bat, I have no interest in being a Wayne," Nightmare replied curtly. "Bruce has my grudging respect, but I'm not cut out for civilian life. Batmare's much more my scene." "I don't think an all but demon who feeds on fear is the protector Gotham needs," Rarity pointed out. "I admit I'm not much of a protector," Nightmare agreed. "Nor do I really care for redemption. It's not exactly my cup of tea. But not all foes you face will be redeemable. Those are the ones I want to fight." "And who decides who can be redeemed and who cannot?" Rarity demanded archly. Nightmare's grin was outright devilish. "Why, you, of course. After all...Batmare is the protector Gotham needs." Rarity blanched at that. The idea that she would be responsible for deciding who this...this demon would be unleashed upon. "That's...that's a lot of responsibility." "No more than you willingly took on when you first donned the mask," Nightmare pointed out. Rarity took a few calming breaths. "True. And...that's all you want?" "Not entirely," Nightmare pointed out. "I want to be able to observe - and comment - on your life as you live it. I've been caged for most of my existence, so I at least want to be able to make commentary." Rarity frowned. Having this being commenting at any time during her daily life could be quite problematic. "How about a compromise there?" she offered. "If you don't pose commentary while I'm talking to someone or while someone is talking to me, then I'll share control of my mouth when we're only around people who know about you - like Father and a few others I'll tell - so you don't have to take complete control to speak with them. How does that sound?" Nightmare sipped her tea as she contemplated this. "I suppose I can accept those terms. More convenient for both of us that way." Rarity nodded. "Just one more detail to cover," she brought up. "When you're in control as Batmare...kill only when there is no other option available." Nightmare sighed. "While killing isn't exactly something that appeals to me, either, I understand the insistence. I shall restrain myself, and try to avoid breaking the mortals. However, I ask one thing in return." "And what might that be?" Rarity asked. "Dr. Cuvier made all this possible from my end," Nightmare pointed out. "I'd like to thank him...properly and personally, in this new role." Rarity thought about that. "I suppose that's appropriate. I'll track him down, and once I'm sure the 'firing line' is clear, as long as you don't kill him, he's all yours." Nightmare grinned. "Then we are of accord. I already have a method by which I will relinquish the body back to you...and this is how you can summon me." Nightmare implanted the conjuration in Rarity's psyche. "Hmm, rather evocative," Rarity admitted. "But why the rhyme?" Nightmare smiled sadly. "In memory of someone I once knew who was...rather fun during the time between becoming my own entity and being bound to you," she explained. "Very well," Rarity replied. "I can understand the need for such sentiment." The mindscape faded to equal parts white and black. Rarity was once more in the Batcave, blinking her eyes a bit. "Well?" Bruce asked her. "It's all settled," Rarity replied. "I'll explain everything after I've dealt with Cuvier." "And how do you plan to find him?" Bruce inquired. Smiling, Rarity levitated the claw stuck in her hoof. "How good is Ace's nose?" Finding herself outside the broken down taxidermy building, Batmare cast a quick spell over the place. There was only the one life sign. "Alright Ace," she commanded. "Go home now. I'll be back soon." Ace whimpered complete. "Go. Now." Turning, Ace obeyed the command and headed for home. So is it my turn now? Nightmare inquired. "Not quite," Rarity murmured. She wriggled. "I need to figure out how to make this costume comfortable over the wings," she muttered to herself as she made her way in. Inside, she spied Cuvier hiding out, alongside a large box of splicer vials. Now? Rarity smiled. "Gone, begone, child of light! Now you face the Darkest Night!" As the chant echoed around the building, causing Cuvier to jerk in surprise, dark magic swirled around Rarity. The moon - which had been half full - suddenly went dark, only the faint ring of a Lunar Eclipse visible. When the dark magic unfolded around her form, Nightmare had taken her place. Instead of the bat suit, however, she was garbed in armor. All four legs were garbed in boots black as night. A matching helmet covered her face, letting her horn free. A matching peytral was adorned with a crimson Batman symbol, which seemed to drip blood. "So, Dr. Cuvier," Nightmare purred, "are you ready to face what you've unleashed?" "Batmare!" he gulped in shock. Seeing her spread wings, he managed a smile. "I like the new look." "Batmare's not in right now," Nightmare purred. "I'm the Dark Night." Cuvier staggered back, his hand reaching for the box of vials. "Please, do show me whatever last defense you have planned," Dark Night cooed. "I wouldn't want this to be too easy." Cuvier smirked. "You may come to regret that." Searching through the box, he injected several vials into his own body. After a time, he began to change. He expanded vertically, his body becoming heavily muscled as his legs fused into a long, thick, serpent tail. His face became beak-like, with feathered tufts instead of hair. His skin became brown as he ripped out of his clothes, and black patterns covered his snake tail. "Now you face a true chimera!" he proclaimed. Dark Night chuckled. "Well, if it's to be a battle of legendary beasts..." Her magic levitated several vials out of the box, shattering in the air as their contents blending with her magic as she shaped her temporary construct. "I shall let a beast of my own deal with you." Cuvier reared back in shock as he saw the creature that took shape, towering over him with far more raw power than he could bring to bear. A very nice dragon, Rarity mused silently as the beast began pummeling the now helpless chimera. But why is it purple and green? Nightmare smiled sadly, saying nothing as she watched the carnage. She was almost sorry that her promise meant that her construct would not kill Cuvier, splattering the possible future form she'd crafted with his blood. ...almost.