Family
Bruce had spent a long time thinking about Rarity's words. From the moment he tucked her in after their relaxing day together, he had sat in his chair before the fire, thinking on those words. The reason he couldn't get past them was because of one crucial detail that gnawed at him until he was eventually forced to face it.
She was right.
In hindsight, it became plain that everything that had driven a wedge in his relationship with Richard could be derived from his own unyielding stubbornness. The decisions he made that affected Richard - made without consulting him - had driven him to go solo as Robin. His choice to put being Batman before being Bruce Wayne had prevented a civilian reconciliation. His own pride had kept him from trying to patch things up. And then putting Batman before Bruce had meant he wasn't even there when Richard - the man he claimed to call son - was married. He had done this to himself, and if he wanted to fix things, he would have to swallow his pride and admit it.
Even coming to this conclusion, it was still very difficult to do so. When he was finally forced to be Batman alone, his pride had been one of the few things to keep him going, and it was hard to let it go. But time and again Rarity had taken an ax to the pillar of his pride, cutting it away and forcing him to confront reality...and each time, his life had improved for it. For her sake, he could do what was right over what was easy. It had been easy to be Batman, despite the strain on his body and his life. Being Bruce was hard.
Thinking that, he realized the one reason he had to call Richard. When solo as Robin - and later as Nightwing - Richard had managed to balance a normal life with his heroing, without sacrificing anything to either. In fact, it was through his acts as Robin - ignoring Bruce's own rule of preserving the secret identity - that he had made many of his closest friends and met and romanced his wife. If there was anyone who could teach Rarity how to be Batmare without losing Rarity, it would be Richard.
As he reached for the phone, Bruce marveled at how easy it was to do the difficult things when he rationalized them as being a good parent. He wouldn't disappoint his own folks by doing badly there, whatever the personal cost. As he dialed the number, he wondered how things would have been different if he'd made that realization 45 years ago, when he first adopted Richard.
The phone rang for a time, and a sleepy female voice answered. "Grayson residence, Mrs. Grayson speaking."
"Hello Mrs. Grayson," Bruce replied. "Is Richard in?"
"He is," she replied. "Who is this?"
"It's Bruce. Can I talk to-"
A gasp interrupted him, and he heard her eager voice away from the phone. "Dear husband, wake up! On the telephone, it is your k'norfka!"
Bruce couldn't help but smile as he heard that. It seemed even after all this time she still slipped into her native tongue on occasion...or perhaps she just felt no word in English as accurately described his and Richard's relationship as that one did.
It plainly made his identity clear to Richard. "Bruce?" he asked as he grabbed the phone. "What makes you call at this hour?"
"Sorry for waking you," Bruce replied. "I know it's late. It's just...I felt it was time to try and patch things up between us."
There was silence on the other end for a while. "Really? Wow. I mean...what brought this on?"
Bruce sighed. "Let's just say something's come up that...has made me realize what a fool I've been for a large part of my life. And...I'd like to try and fix my mistakes if I still can. Is there any chance you could swing by the manor sometime soon? I think this should be a face to face discussion, don't you?"
The silence from the other end was profound, and Bruce actually heard a pin dropping from a nightstand onto carpet. "We'll be there tomorrow...Dad."
Bruce's eyebrows went up at that response from Richard, but he decided not to question it at the moment. "Thank you...son. I look forward to seeing you again. For now, I think we both need our sleep. Get some rest; it's a long trip here."
"You too," Richard replied, his voice thick with suppressed emotions.
As Bruce hung up the phone, he wondered what could have caused that reaction in Richard. However, the warmth of the fire and the relief of accomplishment worked its magic on him, and in leaning back to think he instead found himself dozing off.
When Rarity awoke the next morning, the first thing she noticed was the sense of Bruce's presence in the study before the fire, instead of in his bed. She sighed in frustration. "Father, you can't push yourself like this..." Getting to her hooves, she went to check on him, only to find him sound asleep. She smiled softly. Shaking her head ruefully, she levitated the blanket in his lap up to tuck it around his chin.
At that moment, the security system bleeped, signifying someone with proper clearance had driven up the driveway and was approaching the door. As the only one Rarity was aware of who had proper clearance were the McGinnis's, she went to the door to inform Terry that Bruce was feeling under the weather this morning. However, when she opened the door, she found five people completely unfamiliar to her.
The one raising his hand to knock was human, an older man with healthy skin tone, black hair just beginning to go white at the edges, and friendly but piercing blue eyes. She felt immediately that he was one who could be counted on for just about anything.
Next to him was a woman with orange skin, crimson hair, and green eyes. She also looked to be about half the age(1) of the first man, whose arm she was holding in a manner that plainly indicated they were a couple. Rarity was able to conclude that the woman was a non-human. Not only were her eyes a solid green - pupil, iris, and cornea merely shading from dark to light green - but she was also floating a half foot off the ground. However, her face bespoke an open friendliness that made Rarity feel warm just to see.
The second man was tall and lean, and his skin had a slight greenish tinge to it. He also had sharply pointed ears. Rarity got the impression he must have looked like a goblin when he was younger before he grew into his looks. He also looked no older than 25(2), but his green eyes bore a deep wisdom and experience, belied by the openly friendly smile on his face rivaled only by the alien woman's, slight fangs visible in upper and lower jaw.
The second woman was moon pale, with pale purple hair and dark purple eyes. Her hair was cut short, and she looked like she hadn't changed physically since her 20th birthday(3). Like the green man she stood near, though, her eyes bespoke an ancient and powerful wisdom and great experience. Her face was neutral, but the aura of magical power Rarity could feel from her was overpowering, ancient and terrible yet strangely gentle. Shuddering slightly, Rarity turned her attention to the last man.
His skin was far darker than any of his companions, and he was much taller. Despite his bald crown, he also seemed not to have aged for a long time(4). However, Rarity quickly realized why this was in his case. More than half the skin she could see had the slight sheen she recognized as plastiskin, and his left eye was solid red, obviously cybernetic. From the amount of plastiskin visible, it was plain a large portion of his body was cybernetic...which was frankly fascinating. The way the group stood together implied they were the same age group, which meant his cybernetics were plainly at least 40 years old. She didn't know cybernetics had been that advanced back then.
Realizing she was staring, she quickly recovered and smiled at them all. "Welcome to Wayne Manor," she said calmly. "Can I help you?"
The man who was going to knock stared at her for a time before clearing his throat. Holding his quietly squealing female companion back, he responded. "We're here to see Bruce," he said calmly.
Rarity sighed. "I'm afraid Father has not yet awakened today. He had a-"
"Father?" the man asked in surprise.
The alien woman squealed loudly and swooped down on Rarity. Her training kicked in, and she focused her magic through her horn and then back into her body, toughening against whatever was about to happen. She soon became glad this included resistance to compression.
"Oh Richard, you have a new little sister and she is adorable!" the woman shouted happily.
As soon as the hug relaxed enough she could release her magic, Rarity turned to the man. "Richard? Richard Grayson?"
"That's me," he replied easily.
"Oh, it is wonderful to meet you!" she said happily, hopping down from the woman's embrace. "Please, do come in. But be quiet, Father fell asleep in the study-"
"Too late, Rarity," Bruce said, stepping out of the study. "Kori's quite loud at times." His soft smile took the sting from his words.
The woman who'd hugged Rarity blushed in embarrassment. "My apologies," she said softly, settling to the ground.
"Please, come in," Bruce said calmly. "We can talk in the study."
"I'll prepare some tea!" Rarity said happily, rushing to the kitchen.
Bruce chuckled indulgently. As he sat down in the study, he found himself under magical scrutiny. "Is that really necessary, Rachel?"
"At the moment, it's Dr. Roth," she replied bluntly. After a moment, she let go of her magic. "Although apparently, it was just Richard overreacting again, and the urgency to get here today was an illusion, since you aren't dying as far as my magic can tell."
"Blunt as always," Bruce commented dryly before turning to Richard. "You thought I was dying?"
"With how you were talking about fixing past mistakes, can you really blame me for thinking that?" Richard protested defensively.
Bruce thought about that for a minute. "Not really. If not for Rarity, that's probably the only thing that might have budged me." He turned to the other two men. "So tell me Garfield, Victor...did you two come along to be Richard's emotional support if I was dying?"
"That's just the grass stain!" Victor replied, earning a blown raspberry from Garfield. "I'm actually here just in case you needed help getting your affairs in order. I'm not the best lawyer in the country for nothing."
"If we're all done making me feel like an idiot," Richard joked, getting a laugh from the other four. "So what did spark this, Bruce?"
Bruce chuckled. "Two reasons. One, Rarity browbeat me into introducing her to her big brother, saying it was my turn to extend the olive branch."
Raven snorted mildly in amusement. "I take it she has her ways of getting what she wants?"
Bruce smiled. "Indeed she does. As for the second...I'm actually glad you all came." This piqued all their interests. "She's decided to follow in my footsteps, and take on a role I'm physically no longer capable of fulfilling." Looking at Raven, he touched a finger to his heart.
Raven raised an eyebrow. "So she's Batmare now, huh?"
"Indeed," Bruce replied, "despite my wishes to the contrary." Richard looked surprised at this. "I didn't want her to have to live the life I did. I wanted her to have a normal life. Or, at any rate, as normal a life as she can have when she's the only unicorn in a world of humans." That brought a chuckle from Garfield. "But you five managed it."
"Managed what?" Kori asked in confusion.
"You five managed being heroes and living normal lives, without sacrificing either. You even managed to live normal lives as superheroes while you lived in your Tower." Bruce leaned back with a sigh. "I want Rarity to have the benefit of your experience, Richard. Please, help her live a normal life."
After a time, Richard smiled softly. "All you had to do was ask...Dad."
Bruce returned the soft smile. "Thank you...son."
At that moment, Rarity returned with refreshments for everyone. "I hope I guessed everyone's tastes correctly," she stated nervously. She then set out the tray with Earl Grey tea for herself, Richard, and Bruce, a strong herbal blend for Garfield and Rachel, black coffee for Victor, and a bottle of mustard with a straw for Kori.
The alien female gasped happily. "However did you know of my fondness for the wonderful mustard beverage, little pony sister-in-law?"
Rarity smiled. "A lucky guess, I suppose." She climbed into her chair and levitated her tea to her lips. "So what brings you all here today, Richard?"
Richard smiled softly. "My friends call me Dick."
Rarity frowned. "I think I'll call you Richard. I shouldn't be tasting one of those on my lips at my age."
Richard groaned as Garfield and Victor cracked up laughing. "Good one!" Garfield crowed.
Rachel groaned. "Just when I thought you'd finally grown up..."
Richard shook his head ruefully as he sipped his tea. "Sis...we've got some stories to tell you."
"Oh?"
Richard held his cup, staring into its swirling depths. "It all begins the day I decided to take my own path separate from Dad's...and found my way to Jump City..."
(1)Obviously, aliens who are able to generate radioactive energy blasts from their body would age differently from humans...especially when they haven't used them for a long time.
(2)Self rewriting genetic code plus being part all animals - when several age incredibly slowly - means visible aging is really a matter of personal choice.
(3)Hey, that heritage has to have some benefits.
(4)I don't think this one needs explaining.
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THIS FIC HAS NOW REACHED GOD-TIER LEVELS OF AWESOME AND NOSTALGIA.
Well, I think Rarity is helping indeed... but to see them come in this time? Yep, memories indeed...
WoW, bringing out the teen titans, thats actually good for ratity, the teen titans doesn't actually hide their identities, its more like they simply made their hero identities into their real ones, and their little group is composed of heroes as well, robin married one of them, he got lucky, all of this obviously make them have normal life as well as heroes life.
5737872 I wouldn't take it that far, but yeah, this is treating the greatness of the past with a kind of respect I'm not seeing in what little glimpses I take of Teen Titans Go.
Plot twist, these are the Titans from your My Little Titan fic!
Wasn't expecting the Titans to make an appearance, so. awesome.
Nice! THe Teen Titans! can'ts stand that parody Titans Go!
Oh, I was hoping for Starfire. But all five Titans? Awesome!
Rarity: "As interesting as that all is, what on Earth possessed you all to decide to live in a giant capital 'T'? Wouldn't the strain on the floating wings be a hazard?"
Victor: "Why does everyone forget that supermaterial superstructures is a thing? Heck, the Titan's Tower and my prosthetic body at the time were made largely of the same set materials! It wasn't like I didn't literally have access to tons of the stuff. It certainly made maintenance easy with everything using the same types of systems."
Rarity: "My apologies. I hadn't realized that it was a sore subject."
Victor: "That's alright. To be fair, I was still a teen at the time and I wanted to design something that looked cool."
Rarity: "Any chance I could have a building shaped like a giant version of the design on my flanks?" *shows Victor a picture of her triple gem cutie mark*
Victor: "That would be a bit challenging, considering that two of them would essentially be free floating, but I suppose it is possible using today's tech. What do you want it for?"
Rarity: "I was thinking of setting it up as the Wayne Institute for Design and Technologies and then setting up a scholarship foundation. Gotham has come a long way since father first cleared out the more onerous ruffians, but the Wayne family has more than one traditional way of improving the city, and I intent to honor my grandparents as well by going right for the civic infrastructure."
Garfield: "By building a flying monument to your butt."
Rarity: "Don't be crass. I just want it to inspire future generations."
Rachel: "Very commendable."
Rarity: "As well as immortalize my flank for all the world to see, albeit in a tasteful manner."
Rachel: "And suddenly I am no longer impressed."
Kori: "I would like to see the flying building of the butt once it is made."
Rachel: "You would have to call it that."
5738136
Danggit! You made me remember a joke I forgot!
5738155
<insert obligatory dick joke here>
5738177
Joke has been inserted.
I find your lack of Miss Martian disturbing.
5738197
Miss Martian is Young Justice.
That's Tim Drake Robin.
5738217
Ah. I stopped reading comics shortly after the TT timeskip where they suspected her of being a traitor but she was only hiding her heritage. That was Drake tho too I think, but still TT not YJ. I don't even know what YJ is. To wiki I go...
5738234
Nope. Teen Titans Robin was Dick Grayson, confirmed by the fact that in the episode "Fractured", 'Larry' - the higher dimenstional super fan of Robin who was an exact genetic match - originally introduced himself as Nosyarg Kcid, which is Dick Grayson spelled backwards. Even if that was a pseudonym as a result of superfandom, it still demonstrates he was a superfan of the Dick Grayson Robin, which means the TT Robin was Dick Grayson.
I love the getting back together family reunion!
5738254
The TT animated series Robin was Dick. Even though he was modeled after Tim.
The comics TT Robin at the time Miss Martian was introduced was Tim. Dick was already Nightwing by that time. Since I read the comics before the show it was always surreal to me that they basically merged the 2 characters for the show.
5738290
This story is based entirely on the shows. Comics have no bearing.
5738303
Cool. Never realuzed MM was in any show. I should check out YJ.
Well maid/said my frend. Well done
Did...Did Rarity do a dirty joke? HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?
You can get the boy wonder away from the circus, but you can't get the circus away from the boy wonder. And who would have figured Cyborg as an ambulance chaser. I would have thought that more up Gar's alley, especially when he goes canine.
5738442
Actually, Victor's more of a all purpose lawyer. The sort that you hire to represent you in all things?
Also, Gar's a vet.
Wouldn't it be easier for Rarity's hero identity to be revealed since she's the only pony in Earth?
5738595
Addressed in Masks.
So in the cartoon, Garfield only got really old cause he was depressed?
5738609
Basically, yes. His appearance reflected his outlook on life.
5738459
"Thank you for your service!"
"PSST! I THINK HE'S THE OTHER KIND OF VET! THE KIND THAT WORKS WITH ANIMALS!"
"That 'whisper' was louder than Daddy's Taunter, Pinkie..."
TITANS, GO! Real talk, this was one of the best damn shows on Cartoon Network back in the day. It was perfect. The episode I remember best was the one where Robin is hallucinating Slade being in the Tower due to dust particles from Slade's mask, but the end still implied he was actually there.
Ahhh...the memories...
5738537 not really the ONLY thing Batman won't do is kill. And figure batman used terror against his enemies, that's Nightmare Moon's forte and also Nightmare Moon would likely be Luna in primary persona.
I have nothing more to say other then....
Wow, was not expecting Teen Titans to show up.
I am confused. There were others then Starfire? Or is this Starfire?
Please excuse my poor knowledge of Teen Titans. This, still was most interesting.
5739066
Kori Anders is Starfire's, for lack of a better word, "Americanization" of her Tamaranean name, Kori'ander.
Rarity's quip was unexpected
Nice to see that Bruce and Richard managed to patch things up.
5739082
Ah.
That makes sense.
Thank you.
This is why I love reading stories as well as writing my own. You get to learn so much and broaden ones own horizon.
5739066
The original Teen Titans consisted of Robin, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Aqualad and Kid Flash. In the 1980s the team was reformatted, dropping Speedy, who became a drug addict and later joined the CIA, and Aqualad who apparently was getting way too much vitamin D for his liking. They added Raven, Beast Boy (aka Changeling), Starfire and Cyborg. It was during this incarnation that Robin took on the identity of Nightwing. They later dropped Wonder Girl, who got married, and Kid Flash who took on the mantle of the Flash when Barry Allan "died." The writers added Terra (who eventually went Benedict Arnold on them), and Jericho who would later be KIA. By the beginning of the TV series, Robin would be the only side-kick left in the group.
5739213
Wow.
Thank you for that. I feel smarter now about the group.
I am happy to have known that and learned from that information.
5739066
The Group has Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Beastboy, and Robin. The author used info from the 2003 cartoon Teen Titans from Cartoon Network. It's actually a pretty good show, I liked it.
Mistake found:
This should be "Not really. If not for Rarity, that's probably the only thing that might have budged me."
5739656
I'll try not to make a fuss over you making the same typo in your correction.
5739658
sorry about that
5739658
I wanted to read the rest of the chapter, and I just now went back and fixed it. But hey, at least I pointed it out!
-The Titans laughing
-Rarity being confused
-and Bruce face-palming while muttering something about kids these days.
That being said, I really enjoyed this chapter. I wasn't expecting all of the Titans to make an appearance, but I'm very happy about it. And it makes a lot of sense for them to impart some wisdom to Rarity, who falls under that teenage hero category. Bruce didn't take up the cape and cowl until he was older, so he never had a phase like that.
I'm hoping we'll get at least one more chapter of the Titans training with Rarity, or simply hanging out.
Great chapter overall! I can't wait to see what the Titans have in store for Batmare.
How long has Rarity been publicly connected to Bruce by now? 8-10 years? It's kind of strange that Dick never bothered to question why his father adopted a mutant equine. He could have been under her mind control for all he knew.
I love It I love It I love It I love It I love It I love It this chapter is grate the teen titans are a supper good addition to the story.
Harts Fire
*tries not to squee at the appearance of the Titans and fails hilariously*
I kinda wish there was a story where...somepony...joined an older group of "Teen" Titans set in this universe
EEEE TEEN--wait, they're adult not. Uhhh...just Titans, then? EEEEEEEEEEEE
Also, every Titan except Robin hasn't really aged much because he's the only norm. SUCKS TO BE YOU, GRAYSON! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You find new ways to rip my heart out of my chest with every new story. Soon no amount of diabetes- causing IMshadow performances will b able to stop me!!!!