//------------------------------// // Fears // Story: The Hero They Need // by MetalJrock //------------------------------// Batman opened his eyes, 'Another night come and gone... Now to get back where I left off.' he thought, standing up from his crouched position. He noticed that he was no longer in his room, but now instead he appeared to be in a castle of sorts. His footsteps echoed every second he walked, 'How did I get here? I was in Twilight's castle, but then... Everything went blank after studying the books she gave me before she left. But there is no way that it can already be morning, and I'm definitely not in Ponyville.' "...A major disappointment!" The sound of sobbing and yelling got Batman's attention, he turned to find the source of the voices. He opened a door to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna glaring daggers at Twilight, who had tears running down her face. She tried to keep her composure, but the alicorn failed to do so, broken by whatever was said before Batman awoke. "Indeed. You are a disgrace of a princess! Thou has done nothing worthwhile, makes my wonder why Celestia prepared you to become an alicorn." Luna added. "I couldn't agree more sister. Such a gift wasted on this miserable excuse of my student." "P-Please... I-I'll do better..." pleaded the purple alicorn. Batman frowned, "Hey!" he tried to get their attention, but the the two princesses continued to insult Twilight, as though he wasn't even in the room. "Don't make me go over there myself!" he warned, when he found out that he was being ifnored, Batman tried to tackle the princesses, but he fell through them, "What the hell? That's unusual. But it all adds up. I must be in a-" "A nightmare." Another voice got the Dark Knight's attention, this one able to hear him. Princess Luna revealed herself to Batman, "You have a lot to answer for, Luna." he threatened. "I am here, Batman. The real one, we're in the nightmare of Princess Twilight. I had sensed something awry within the mindscape of you seven, but for some reason you are partially immune to it. I can sense dread in you, but it has yet to overtake you. In the meantime, I shall explain briefly. The seven of you are suffering nightmares of a unique caliber. You and I must make sure that the ponies overcome these fears." "Alright. But we can't manipulate things. I just tried." Luna nodded, "Do not worry, I have placed a spell on the two of us that will allow us to plant the seeds of doubt on this being the reality. We will be able to indirectly change things for the better." "Twilight!" The alicorn stopped her sobbing briefly to see the Dark Knight standing there, "Don't you dare ignore us, Twilight! We are trying to teach you a lesson!" scolded Celestia, "I'm taking away those wings and finding another student. One who will this gift for a better use than you ever could." "None of this is real! Fight the doubts in your mind!" Twilight sniffled, holding back her tears, "Just stop!" "Escuse us?" gasped Luna. Twilight frowned as she stood up, "You're not the real Celestia and Luna! You two have told me beforehand that my time will come! I have dine good in Equestria! This is all a nightmare!" upon saying that, the fake princesses vanished, allowing Twilight to calm herself down from her earlier hysteria. "Thank you, Batman." said the alicorn. "I didn't do this alone." answered the vigilante. Princess Luna revealed herself, "Greetings, Princess Twilight. As thou has figured out, we are within your minds. The seven of you are suffering from nightmares unlike anything I have witnessed. The rest of your friends are still suffering and Batman only has a matter of time until he suffers the same as you." "A-Alright. Let's hurry." studdered Twilight. The three vanished, with Luna sending them into the mindscape of one of the princesses' friends. "Come back, darlings!" pleaded Rarity. All of the unicorn's friends left, "Ha! As if we'd do that! Y'know how many times ya abandoned us to meet your fancy friends? It's about time ya got a taste of yer own medicine. We'll find somepony to replace ya!" Applejack mocked. "Yeah! You're the worst sister ever!" Sweetie Belle insulted. "B-But... I-I.." Rarity was at a loss of words, only crying at the sight of her friends leaving. "I made you all something special!" Twilight, Luna, and Batman appeared in the dream, finding themselves in the Carousol Boutique, "Rarity? What happened to her?" asked Twilight. "She believes that you will all leave her, pouring her heart out into the true proof of genuine friendship on her end." Luna explained to the two. The two watched as Rarity continued to sob in the same spot. She leaned, never stopping her pleas and begging that she can make up to them. "Rarity..." whispered Twilight. The unicorn perked up at the sound of the voice, "T-Twilight...?" she gasped, "I thought you left with everypony else! I'm not good enough to be your friend!" "Why would I or the others even think that? You're the most generous pony we've ever known. You always do what you think is best for us, you go out of thenway to make sure we're happy... No matter what, you're one of our friends." Rarity perked up at Twilight's words, "Y-You're right... None of this... I must be in a nightmare." she turned around, seeing Batman and Luna waiting for the two, "I was right., why is Batman here though?" "I only have sometime left before I succumb to my own nightmares judging by what you're all going through. So we have to find the others, because my mind is not a fun place to visit." Batman explained, allowing Luna to warp to the nightmare of another pony and close friend. "You're just a joke, Pinkie!" "Nopony likes your parties!" "Ahahahaha!" The ponies surrounding the pink pony continued to insult her, at this point her mane had been deflated from being sad. "But... I just want to make you laugh!" she whimpered. "Oh, you make us all laugh! Laugh at how pathetic you are!" Pinkie held her tail, blowing her nose on it. Her eyes filled with tears, "A-Am I really a joke to you...?" "No you are not, Pinkie!" Pinkie turned around and saw Rarity, Twilight, Luna and Batman glowing. The unicorn continued to speak, "You are our light. You always bring a smile to our faces. Everytime we laugh, it is because you are such a fun pony to be with." Twilight nodded in agreement, "Yes. Now, how about we help you smile for once?" she asked, a toothy grin formed on her face. Pinkie's lip curled up, the insulting crowd vanishing from the vicinity. Her mane popped back to it usual poofy look. "Yay! Ehat about you, Batman? Do you have anything fun to say about me?" "You're more annoying when you're depressed." he said. "Look who decided to show up!" Appejack's eyes widened at the sight of the broken farm, "Granny? What the hay happened?" she asked, thr sky filled with clouds, looking as though it were about to rain. Smoke covered the surrounding area, worrying the farmpony greatly. She looked at the elder green mare sitting on her rocking chair. "Ya never came back! That's what happened! Ya said you'd go on vacation in Manhattan, but ya left for seven years! See where yer lyin' got to ya!" the elder pony asked her granddaughter. "No... Ah'd never lie to ya!" "You never will." Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie walked to the confused and near sobbing Applejack, "You're the most honest pony in all of Equestria. The only lie here is that you'd think that you would ever let this happen." Twilight said. The earth pony sniffled, hearing the kind words her friend was saying. "Sweet Apple Acres is your calling." Rarity added, "You know that by now." The destroyed farm began to glow, and turned back to how it was in the real world. The sky cleared up and Applejack cleared her throat, "Thank ya, girls." "We have no time to explain things, Applejack. We must find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy before they fall victims to their worst fears." Luna explained briefly. Batman was the first to arrive, seeing a group of ponies group themselves around Fluttershy. The other four made it and stood where the Dark Knight was at, "She's afraid of being weak." he revealed. The ponies saw that Fluttershy was being singled out as the ponies morphed into a bunch of weird looking monsters. "Fluttershy! Fight back!" Batman and Pinkie shouted at once. The pegasus turned her head to see her friends rooting her on, she inhaled, opening her eyes with a scowl. The monsters paused in their tracks upon staring at her, Fluttershy's eyes were piercing into their souls, "Yeah! She used the Stare!" the pink pony cheered at the sight of the monsters running. Exhaling, the meek pegasus flew to her friends, happy to see friendly faces, "What's happening?" she asked. "We must now head into Rainbow Dash's dreams." Luna said. Rainbow Dash curled into a ball in her cloud, her eyes starting to tear up. "Why did they kick me out?" she asked herself, "I'm Wonderbolt material!" the image of her friends leaving her earlier came up in her head, she cried into her pillow, not wanting anypony to hear her sorrows. "Pick yourself up." The cyan pegasus turned to see Batman and her friends standing around her, "Your friends never left." "H-He's right, Rainbow... None of this is real." Fluttershy revealed. "We will always be your friends... No matter what." "Yep! You will now wake up from this nightmare like the rest of us!" added Pinkie. Rainbow chuckled, "Heh. I knew it was a dream! Got ya all good." "She's fine." Batman assured. "At least you all are safe. The nightmares came from an outside source, which worried me. I came to investigate and luckily all of you managed to convince each other of the facade that this all was-" Luna was cut off by Batman vanishing. The other six watched in surprise while Luna shook her head. "Where did Batman go?!" asked Rainbow Dash. "It's as I feared, Batman's nightmare has begun. We shall head into his mind and stop it before it damages his psyche!" after declaring this, Luna warped herself and the ponies into the mind of Batman to finish things up.