Gotham Knights: Birth of a Princess

by kitsy-chan

2: Sunrise and Knight Watches.

The rain continued to fall at a near constant rate as lightning traced across the sky, continuing to outline the brooding clouds from which it came. In the streets of Gotham, a truck could be seen making its way throughout the various paths and roads that were provided by the city.

The driver’s compartment was a little cramped for the demon that drove the truck — an odd sight to see in of itself — but he was able to drive well enough for the time being. The rain gave him some trouble, of course, but nothing too major. As he drove, street lights flickered and dimmed on his way down Gotham’s streets, sometimes functional, others simply flickering randomly or long since shut down.

To most that saw it, it was nothing but a typical delivery van. No one would consider its cargo to be anything other than stereos, or maybe computer parts. No one would consider the implications of its cargo other than thinking some spoiled rich Gothemite was getting a new 72” TV.

The truck drove down the less used streets of the city, avoiding the overpass and freeway in their entirety. It drove through the residential neighborhoods of old decaying houses, passing over pothole after pothole as it struggled to keep itself righted. Most of the buildings that surrounded the truck were built years before the era of prefab and quick construction. It was all old stone construction rather than even brick, easily making it out to be the much more old and decrepit part of Gotham. Of course, with modernization, these homes were soon thought of as obsolete, and as such, were left with little to no one to inhabit them, instead simply holding off the elements for their nonexistent owners. The dark greys and blacks of these buildings crisscrossed with lines of white mortar that had faded to grey and yellow over time, only serving to further exemplify their age and condition.

It, however, wasn't until the truck had reached one of these houses in particular that it eventually came to a stop, pulling into the driveway of the home before being placed in park, it's engine shutting off as this went on. Like most, it was two stories, with vaulted windows and dark wooden doors. There was no garage, for these houses were built before cars were common, and instead the driveway cut through what used to be part of the front yard, stopping by the side of the front door.

Lightning flashed again, casting the shadows of the house and highlighting the rounded tower atop of it, typical of the architecture from its time. The drapes had been drawn, and none of the lights were currently on, though that was to be expected. Opening the driver’s side door the demonic delivery man stepped out.

The Wayne Tech cap on his head clashed heavily with the dark reds and yellows of his hellish attire. He hadn't particularly known why he had put it on, really, but a part of him just felt it appropriate to wear a trucker’s hat as he drove the vehicle. This was the closest he could find to one within the vehicle.

“Well," he suddenly heard someone say, "that’s an interesting look.” The woman’s voice came from the darkness of the veranda, clearly out of humor as it came through the ever present rain. The deeply shadowed entryway was sheltered from this rain, a safe place to stand and wait.

“I figured it would add some class, witch,” Etrigan commented with a smirk as he then walked around to the back of the truck, not giving the woman another glance, though hiding his smile, as he did so. Grabbing the latch of the container that was held to the back of the vehicle, he opened the rear door, letting it slide up until it opened completely with a loud metallic clang. The body of the winged unicorn was still there, as he had figured, and still unconscious. Yet, even drugged, the magic about the being was clear to see. Its mane and tail flowed and shimmered in its sleep as the colors of the rainbow that rested upon them seemed to move on their own.

“It’s mage, not witch. I’m a magician, where’s a witch is a religious order.” Zatanna corrected, quite swiftly at that, as she looked into the back of the truck, spotting the being within. “Not to say the local coven didn’t try and recruit me though." She added in shortly after, before focusing her attention on the alicorn within the vehicle. Noting this, Etrigan spoke up, echoing what he had been told by the Dark Knight.

“Remember, she’s a child.” He spoke with a chuckle, “We are supposed to be careful.” Rolling his eyes slightly at this thought, the demon reached down, grabbed a hind leg and started dragging the mare out of the back of the van. Quite the opposite of careful, as anyone, especially the Mage Zatanna, could tell.

“Oh come on...” Zatanna breathed out with a sigh, shaking her head as she then drew out her wand. Looking at Etrigan, who was still preoccupied attempting to move the mare, she smirked and spoke clearly as she flicked her wand.

“Sassimer suproc,” She uttered, A glow quickly formed around the mare before promptly lifting her off the bed of the truck and floating her towards the door. Etrigan watched as this happened, glancing back and forth between the Mage and the mare, before giving out a sigh.

Etrigan then turned and walked up to the front door beside the floating mare, opening it and stepping aside.

“After you,” he offered, to which Zatanna smiled, flipping the mare onto her back, curling her legs as she supported her head and back, and tucking her wings tight against her body. Sticking her tongue out at Etrigan teasingly, Zatanna walked with the mare in through the door.

"The concept of 'carefully' clearly seems to take a woman’s touch,” she commented, to which Etrigan gave out a light snort.

“Show off," he commented as he made his way inside his home, following shortly after Zatanna and the being that she held. "Just drop her anywhere, but not on the furniture.” He then added before promptly making his way towards the study of the house, where Zatanna followed shortly after.

Gently, Zatanna laid the mare down on the floor of the study, conjuring a pillow and placing it under her head.

“I’ve never seen a unicorn in real life, let alone a winged unicorn,” she commented, a look of interest about her as she lifted a finger up to her chin.

She knelt beside the mare and softly rubbed her neck, believing it to be a rather soothing motion, as far as she could tell.

“We need to figure out how to change her back. Morgaine la Fey used this,” another voice then promptly said, causing both Zatanna and Etrigan to flinch in surprise before looking towards the source, seeing Batman standing square in between the both of them. Acting as though nothing were wrong, he walked out of the shadows, tossing the stone he had taken to Zatanna. The Mage was barely able to react in time, catching the stone, and momentarily slipping with it, before ultimately getting a secure grip around it.

“Etrigan," he then said, "we could use Jason Blood's expertise here.” Hearing this, the demon gave out a groan, before then turning to sarcasm.

“Aww, and here I thought you just wanted me to change so I didn’t scare the child again,” the demon smirked momentarily, before heading into his office.

Zatanna, in the meanwhile, was looking over the gem she now held, recognizing what it was, though just barely.

“The Eye of Ra? I don’t know much about this. This was supposed to be lost thousands of years ago. For a while there were some counterfeit versions of this floating around on the markets, and in private collections but this is the real thing.” She commented, her gaze still fixated on the object even as a man holding a book walked into the room from where Etrigan had left.

Clearing out his throat, so as to gain the Mage's attention, Jason Blood began to read aloud the entry from the book he held.

"The eye of Ra. It is said to give the user control over the sun itself. Sought after by the Setites and Ophidians to forever dim or lower the sun, the gem allowed the user an ability to draw energy directly from the sun to amplify or extend the power of a spell,” he quoted, before promptly closing the book and laying it on the table.

Looking over the mare again, and noting the mark of the sun on where she's imagine her hips to be, Zatanna traced this mark as she tilted her head ever so slightly.

“So this mark shows her tie to the sun now, I'd imagine. It certainly seems about right. Even now I can feel the magic in it,” Jason scoffed at the apparent understatement.

“That’s an awful lot of power too. It will be hard to separate the magic from her if she can continue to draw from the sun itself,” Jason commented, looking to Batman for a short moment.

“Just as well, Morgaine may continue to try and hunt her. After all, she is still a fairly large beacon of power.”

“Then we need to teach her to mask and control her power.” Zatanna returned as she continued stroking the mark, mostly out of curiosity at this point. “She’s young, and if what you said about earlier was true, then when she gets scared she could have surges of power and hurt other people.”

It was at that moment that the former girl gave out a slight groggy moan, her ear twitching as she opened her eyes, albeit slowly, and lifted her head as much as she could in her current state. Looking around with a slight wobble, she blinked a few times, trying to clear the fog from her eyes and head. Her eyes still had trouble focusing with her suddenly wider arc of vision.

“That dosage should have kept her out for hours.” Batman stated as he pulled the injector he had previously used out of his belt, more than prepared to return the mare to her previous, almost comatose state.

“You can’t just keep drugging her!” Zatanna told him with a bit of a scowl, then moved herself around so as to lift the mare’s head and began to stroke it gently. The mare then proceeded to look towards her, to which the Mage gave out a gentle smile.

“It's alright. Stay calm,” she whispered, though it didn't seem to help at first.

“What? What’s happening?” Jerking her head around, the mare looked around, blinking with clear fear across her features. Her voice practically caused Zatanna to lose all semblance of hearing she had all at once, causing the very architecture around her and the other two with her to tremble, alongside several books to fall over from their shelves into the floor. Jason barely held his tongue as he saw this, a sigh escaping him instead.

Noting this, Zatanna closed her eyes, turning her head quickly and covered an ear with one hand, though she kept her other hand on the mare’s cheek.

“You need to speak quieter, don’t use magic in your voice. Concentrate and focus on speaking softly,” the Mage spoke, to which the former-girl blinked.

“What…" she initially said, before then realizing the volume of her own voice as, shortly after, attempting what the Mage had said to do. "What….” she repeated as she closed her eyes in an attempt to calm and focus herself, her voice lowered with each try.

"What… is going on?” she then finally finished, her voice now much more bearable for the three others within the room to handle.

“Ok, keep concentrating, keep your voice down. You were kidnapped, but we rescued you. You’re safe now,” Zatanna informed, and soothed, softly.

Looking around, the girl shook her head a few times.

“Why…. why does everything look so strange?” she asked, still unsure as to why her sight felt so off.

“Maybe because you’re not actually looking at things directly. Try turning your head more towards me, and lowering it a bit.” Zatanna recommended, smiled as she put two fingers against girl's muzzle, pressed down softly to bring her cone of vision onto herself.

Blinking, the girl slowly looked around, turning her head as she took in her surroundings. focusing more on her central cone of vision rather than her peripherals. Of course, this wasn't what really mattered to her. Rather, she simply had one question on her mind at the time.

“Will I be able to go home soon?” she asked.

“Not just yet. Umm... you haven’t gotten a good look at yourself yet, have you?” Zatanna questioned, a bad feeling already beginning to form in the pit of her stomach as she did. As she saw the mare shake her head no, Zatanna sighed, reaching for her wand and waving as she spoke, “Eretcelfer siluceps.”

A large oval mirrored surface wobbled into existence as it was beckoned, hovering in front of the girl’s prone form. Moving aside carefully, Zatanna allowed the young mare to see herself for the first time. Giggling softly, Zatanna watched the mare as she wiggled her ears, stuck out her tongue, and made a few different facial expressions trying to come to terms with the fact that it really was her reflection.

“Why am I a…” Anya started, then stopped, unsure of how to say it.

“Winged unicorn?” Jason Blood offered. “Or, rather, as mythology refers to it, an alicorn. Really, I’m not totally sure. It seems Morgaine la Fey was trying to summon a unicorn and transformed you into that by accident.”

Looking back, she blinked, lifting and lowering a wing slowly.

“But I can’t be… I need to go home; I need to go to school; I need my mom…” her mind once more beginning to shift itself into the realm of fear, the girl looked up towards the Mage, her cheeks already starting to get damp from the tears in her eyes. This sight alone broke Zatanna's heart, but she calmly spoke nonetheless.

“Stay calm, we are working on it. We just need some time. What we need from you though is to try and stay in control of your power. You are putting out a lot of energy right now and it’s very noticeable.” Zatanna said. “I need you to focus on me, okay?”

Taking a breath, the girl nodded slowly.

“But what if you can’t fix me? What if I’m stuck like this?”

“We will find a way to help you. I swear it,” Zatanna stated firmly. “Now we need you to focus and concentrate. We need you to control the magic in you, make it as small as you can so it doesn’t give you away.”

“I... I don’t know how,” Anya whimpered, to which Zatanna put her hand gently on the mare’s cheek.

"Relax. Concentrate and you should be able to feel the power in you. Gather it up and hide it, use the magic itself to hide it. It’s not about suppressing it or pushing it away, just concentrate on making it dimmer.” The girl blinked at this.

“Dimmer? Smaller?” the girl questioned, to which the Mage nodded. Though unsure, the girl returned the nod as best she could, closing her eyes before then delving into her own mind.

‘I need to make it smaller…’ she thought to herself, her horn flaring to life, as she concentrated.

‘I need to hide it in me, make it smaller,’ the energy of her magic wrapped around herself, filling the previously darkened room with light, though not nearly as intense as it once was.

‘If the Pretty Pretty Pegasus can do it, then I can too.’ Slowly, her mane shifted from its rainbow colors to a simple soft pink. The mane shrank down from its long ethereal length to a shorter fluffy pink style that, in some ways, seemed more natural, were it not for the color.

Her form also shrank, slowly from a large mare the size of a horse to something more akin in size to a Shetland or maybe a miniature horse. She still had her wings and horn but they too shrank down in size to match her younger form.

When she was done, she sat panting, her magic hidden inside the form of what looked like one of the Pretty Pretty Pegasus from the show she watched, except without the pointy feet.

With a soft sigh she looked up wiggling her tail involuntarily, and full of excitement she looked between Zatanna and Jason.

"Well," she asked, "did it work?”

Jason Blood covered his face with his hand, shaking his head with a sigh. The fact that she wasn’t putting out magical static now was a definite improvement, sure, but... her form... She was only 8 after all, he supposed, and her form mirrored that youth. A little filly alicorn with all of the… cuteness… that that entailed.

She looked at herself in the mirror and squeed as she smiled brightly. She stomped her forehooves rapidly as she cried out with excitement, “I did it! I did it! I did it, right?”

Giggling at her excitement, Zatanna sat before her, covering her mouth.

"You sure did. You aren’t going to be as easy to find now. Good job. Right Jason?” she then asked, looking to the man who, with a shake of his head, looked back to his book.

“Umm, right. Well done,” he said simply, unsure of what else to add at this point.

“Well Bats, what do you think?" Zatanna then questioned, shifting her gaze to where the Dark Knight stood. Or rather, had been standing. "Bats?” Zatanna repeated, seeing that Batman had already chosen to vanish, leaving the child in their care. Shaking her head she huffed, “I hate it when he does that.”

Getting up, slowly, the girl wobbled a little bit as her legs started shaking, then fell down and gave out a whimper. She looked up at Zatanna her eyes filling with fear and uncertainty. She stuck out her lower lip quivering it as she sniffled, with wide eyes.

“Oh, what’s wrong?” Zatanna asked with a soft smile as she noted this look.

“How… how do I walk?”

Smiling softly Zatanna shook her head, “ereno suivel.”

Wrapping her arms around the foal, she picked her up.

“I think we’ll work on that tomorrow. It's late, and you’ve had a big day. Let’s put you to bed." Lifting her completely, Zatanna rose a brow for a short moment.

"Actually she’s lighter than I expected like this.” She commented to herself in barely a whisper, nobody except for herself hearing this.

“Guest rooms are on the second floor,” Jason informed her as he down with another book he had on hand. “I’ll continue researching while you play mother hen,” he then added, watching as the Mage, with a roll of her eyes, made her way out of the study.

Zatanna carried the little filly into the guest room at a slow pace, being careful as she made her way up the stairs before, eventually, reaching the guest bedroom she had been informed of and opening it with a simple twist of the door knob, rather than needing some fancy spell. It wasn’t overtly fancy and, thankfully it was somewhat modern, with none of the hideous gargoyle like images that had surrounded the house.

Laying her down on the bed, Zatanna took care to tuck her in under the covers. At least, as best as she could when it came down to doing so with a filly. She sat looking down at the small foal as she started to stroke her mane.

“Don’t worry. We will find a way to help you.”

Yawning once, the former child nodded.

"Tell mommy I’m safe please…”

“Bats will,” Zatanna assured and smiled as the filly seemed to settle into the bed ever so slightly more. "By the way, what's your name, little one?" Zatanna then asked, only then realizing that, up until this very moment, she was not aware of it.

Sleep overcoming the little thing, she barely managed to speak before ultimately closing her eyes and testing. It was late after all, nearly midnight and well past an 8 year olds bedtime.

"My name's... Anya." And with that, she fell asleep.

***

“Anya! School!”

Anya yawned as the voice of her mother came through her door, effectively awakening her from her slumber as she then pushed herself out of bed. She was born and lived all her life in Gotham, which wasn’t saying much since she was only 8.

Still, to her Gotham was her whole world. It wasn’t as popular amongst tourists as Metropolis or Star City, but still it was her hometown, and she took pride in it.

Her room was decorated in the style of her favorite cartoon ever, the Pretty Pretty Pegasus series. Her sheets, drapes, and even walls had unicorns and pegasi on them from the show. She even had figurines from the show decorating her dresser.

Though, ponies weren’t all her life was about. She had other loves too, such as sports. She also liked some of the academic classes at school, even if some of them were rather boring to her.

Following her morning routine, she got dressed in her usual pair slacks and her shirt. It was too cold out for her skirt, especially if she was riding her bike to school.

Once she was ready, she made her way out of her room and downstairs, sliding down the banister and laughing as she hit the carpet, causing it to slide with her then ran into the kitchen for breakfast.

It wasn't until she had arrived at the table, greeting her parents and giving them a cheery 'good morning', That she began to get curious about her homework.

“Dad, what’s a Vegan?” Anya asked as she swung her legs below her chair.

She knew she didn't live in largest house, only having two bedrooms, one bathroom upstairs, a small kitchen, and a living room-dining room combo, but it was home. They tended to use the kitchen for meals more though.

“It’s someone who doesn’t like meat, eggs or milk,” her mom mom responded before her father could, she put down the french toast, bacon, and milk she had prepared for the girl before her, to which she happily dug into.

Both her mom and dad worked, her dad at the local pig processing plant, her mom a cashier at the corner store. Neither job paid very well but combined it was ok for a modest life.

Looking at her plate, Anya tried to picture only eating the bread, as a vegan would apparently do, but then shook her head.

“Yuck, that’s so boring. Even cake has eggs in it. So they couldn’t even have cake… or ice cream. Or hotdogs, or hamburgers, how can you live without hamburgers?”

Laughing softly her dad shook his head, though secretly he agreed with what his daughter had just asked.

“There are lots of foods other than just hotdogs and hamburgers. There are carrots, mushrooms, green beans, and so on.”

The expression on Anya’s face spoke volumes.

“Not even cheese pizza? Or mac and cheese?” Her mom laughed and tweaked Anya’s nose gently, causing her to give out a slight laugh as she moved away out of reflex.

“You don’t have to be a vegan if you don’t want to be, why do you ask?”

“Our phys-ed teacher said it was a healthy life choice,” Anya replied. “Why is everything healthy always so boring?”

Her father chuckled and lifted the bagel he was eating, looking at it and then at his wife.

“From the mouth of children,” he commented, though Anya was not really sure of what he was referring to.

Finishing her breakfast, she washed her face and hands quickly at the kitchen sink before running outside. Her next favorite thing aside from the ponies themselves was parked and locked up beside the front stairs.

Her bike was a fairly standard girl’s BMX frame with a pink and lavender paint job. That, however, is where things ended. Her dad had replaced everything on it from the tires with a much stronger and better grip tire that didn’t suffer as much wear. The breaks were actually of adult BMX’s with special water grip system allowing the bike to stop even when wet, which was a big plus in a city like Gotham. He even took the gears from an old boy's BMX and put it on hers so she had a 14 speed. It was the best girl’s bike in the school, if not the whole city. And it was all because of her daddy’s love.

Putting on her helmet she unlocked her bike and rolled it out onto the street. She looked both ways, giggling before she started peddling hard, racing to school. She was fast on it, faster than even the sixth grader’s bikes.

Sometimes she felt like she could outrace even the rays of the sun. Zipping down the streets, she was careful to stop at the lights, but often she found herself timing it so the lights were always with her. Time and time again her bike got her to school safely, and today was no different.

Parking her bike at the stand she locked it up and ran inside.

School was always a safe place for her. She had friends, she had teachers she liked, and she had classes she liked. Science was always boring, just like math, but English and history were fun.

Though, again, she always argued with her history teacher. He kept saying things like pegasi weren’t real, even though everyone knew Themyscira was real.

Looking at Anya sternly the teacher pointed at the door.

“I told you, pegasi and unicorns aren’t real. Out of the class little filly!” she recalled that day vividly. She remembered all of the kids turning to looking laugh at her, alongside the words they spoke.

“Look she thinks ponies are real.”

“Look she thinks she’s a pony.”

“Anya wants to be a pony.”

'Celestia, it's morning. Can you feel the sun?'

Blinking Anya dropped to all fours, looking around as her mane and tail blew in the unseen breeze.

***

Opening her eyes wide open, Anya found herself to be shivering as she looked around. She found herself in an unfamiliar room, initially unsure as to how she had gotten there, and why.

Looking down she saw her forelegs and hooves, unconsciously uncovered by then by her movement in her sleep.

Was she still dreaming? Was school the waking world and this the dream? She wasn’t sure what was real anymore. Except for this feeling, it drew her eyes to the window, the feeling of new life, of new light, of a new day.

Looking through the window she could see the sun starting to rise, she could feel it starting to rise. She could feel it calling to her. Closing her eyes her horn flared to life, mirroring the colors of the dawn, filling the room with a beautiful array of golds and reds. Slowly her wings spread wide as she gradually lifted off the bed. Her energy surged as it filled the room, the whole house even, as she felt as the sun seem to rise through her.

The sun marks on her hips glowed with magical energy as the new day’s sun came into view. It was her first sunrise. It was her first day.

Comments

[kitsy-chan]

It's my birthday to day so i figured I'd share a present with my readers.

[Alkarasu]

Cute little Celestia go!

[badninja]

The joys of being a child in Gotham. Now the sad part is that she has to deal with all the craziness that Gotham dishes out on a regular basis.

[harts fire]

[Everglue Horace]

And, this is what you get when you cross Spawn with Batman...

[Twilight_Shimmer]

Cannot wait for more!

[jzuniga1097]

So is there going to be a scene where we find batman watching pretty pretty Pegasus as research material?