The candles in the room flickered and danced with the light breeze, casting shadows throughout the room. Scattered around were figurines, stone cut gargoyles and demons. Embossments and reliefs of different creatures rarely seen outside of nightmares decorated the walls.

Books lined two of these walls. Dusty ancient tomes, many of which written in long forgotten languages. Several of the tomes were bound in hides or skins of things better left unmentioned. The cat paced back and forth on the desk as the boy tapped his fingers together.

Arching her back and hissing, the cat’s hackles rose. All of the fur on her back went straight up as her tail puffed out. The crystal ball flared brightly for a few moments, being enough to swiftly cause the cat to back away. The energy overwhelmed the crystal, causing it to crack. Slowly at first, but soon ruptures formed all over the ball. With one last flash the crystal ball could no longer take the stress and finally shattering. A stream of smoke rose from the glass fragments, ever so slightly filling the room with a faint smell of primordial dust before fading shortly after.

“Well now Teekl, this is something we should check into,” the boy said with a smile, speaking to his cat as though expecting a reaction.

The cat hissed again and pawed at the shattered crystal ball. It was not happy one little bit.

“I know you haven’t sensed a power like that in a long time," the boy told the feline. "It would be interesting if we could sway it to the side of Chaos though," the boy pondered as he stood up.

"Do you think you could track it?”

The cat spat once and hopped up onto the boy’s shoulder before then giving out a single meow.

***

Zatanna ran into Anya’s room, blinking as she had felt that one magical pulse that had emanated from it. A pulse that not only she, but likely anyone that was even slightly magically attuned across the world felt, if not beyond.

Looking around she entered the room. She saw Anya sitting on her bed, once more in her fully grown mare form, her horn glowing as she looked out at the sunrise.

Jason was the next to run in.

“Is everything all right?” he asked, before spotting the mare and going silent.

Looking over at the two for a short second, Anya smiled pointing a hoof outside.

"Sunrise,” she said simply and cheerily, as if completely ignorant to everything else that had been occurring.

Walking over to the mare, and giving out a slight giggle at the very child-like simplicity of the mare before her — which was to be expected, what with her being a child after all — Zatanna spoke.

“Oh Anya, remember what we said about hiding?" she questioned.

Looking down at her forelegs Anya giggled ever so lightly.

"Oops, one sec,” she returned apologetically, closing her eyes, and allowing her horn to glow as her form shrunk back down to that of a little filly.

“How’s that?” she then asked, to which Jason covered his face shook his head slowly.

“... It will do,” Jason then glanced to Zatanna, a brow raised in a questioning form.

"By the way, 'Anya'? You and I both know that won't do at all. Last thing we need is others knowing her name," looking to Jason for a moment, the Mage rose a finger to her chin in thought.

“Fair point," she conceded, before looking back to the filly upon the bed. "We need to think of another name for you, a secret name other than Anya,” she told the former girl, to which she responded with a tilt of her head.

She blinked.

"Why?”

Before either of the two could answer, they found themselves flinching once again, as a voice came from behind them.

"Because there are people that would see you as a threat, or worse, use your name to find your family,” Batman stated as he made his way into the room, Zatanna and Jason both looking to him before giving out a sigh.

'Geez,' Jason thought to himself, 'has he ever heard of saying hello instead of giving others heart attacks?!'

“Why would they do that?” Anya asked the man in the bat costume. “I’m not a threat to anyone.”

The Dark Knight nodded at the possibility, but spoke up once more.

"Maybe. But still, it's best if we give you an alternate name,” he assured, glancing back to Zatanna and Jason.

“Like a superhero name!” the little filly shouted perkily, her ears going straight up as she started wiggling her tail involuntarily, an idea already in mind.

“Well I like Tia so how about… the Great and Powerful Tia!” Anya suggested happily, attempting to pull the bed sheets around her like a cape as best as she could with hooves. Unused to hooves however, and with no skill in magic, she did her best just to get it around her neck and letting it drape down her back. Even this however, could not hold back her enthusiasm.

“Oh, should I have a hood or a witch’s hat?" she then questioned.

Batman simply lifted an eyebrow looking at the filly, somewhat at a loss of how to respond to that.

“Or, do I need a mask to hide my identity?” Anya asked as she then looked back to Zatanna, her tail wiggling as she perked her ears.

The Mage was barely able to hold her heart from melting at the sight before her, watching a little girl — sort of — want to be a superhero... which was quite ironic, considering the company before her.

Making her way towards her.

“Well, while 'the great and powerful Tia' is rather catchy, that’s a little bit of a mouthfull to say,” she replied, placing a hand atop the filly's head and rubbing it playfully. This earned a giggle out of Anya.

“Then, how about Tia when I’m small and Celestia when I’m big like my toy?” she questioned, though Zatanna wasn't quite sure of what toy she spoke of. The girl had lost it back in the warehouse, after all, and didn't seem to have brought it with her on her way here. Neither had Jason, or rather Etrigan, if he had seen it.

“Tia works fine,” Zatanna told her, before looking to the caped crusader for confirmation. “Doesn’t it, Bats?”

Staring for barely a moment or two, the Dark Knight did not reply, instead silently turning and walking out of the room.

"I need to check on some things,” he said simply.

Seeing this, Anya, or rather, Tia, quivered her lower lip, a frown on her face as she looked up to Zatanna.

"He doesn’t like me, does he?” she questioned, to which Zatanna just waved him off with a scoff.

"Him? Pfft, he’s just a big grumpy grouch. He doesn’t like anyone he doesn’t trust, and he doesn’t trust anyone. Trust me," Zatanna said with a firm nod.

“Just give him time,” Zatanna said then watched as Tia’s horn lit up on its own filling the room with light. Looking around slowly she blinked confusedly, an odd sensation going up her spine.

“Miss Zatanna, do you…”

“Yes little one, I feel it too," she said, her voice now holding an undertone of seriousness beneath it. "I think we have company.” Standing, Zatanna made her way over to the window of the room, looking outside towards where she felt the odd energy coming from.

“Good company?” Tia hoped, timidly standing up on wobbly legs.

Looking towards the door Zatanna called out, “Bats, Jason, something wicked this way comes.”

The street lights which had just recently gone out with the rising sun, now flared to life one by one as the mists and shadows rolled forward down the streets. The darkness they brought tripped the sensors just long enough for the lights to flare to life one last time. One last glimmer before their end.

Tendrils of shadow began growing around the lamp posts like some kind of thorny vine until they reached the offensive lights. Enveloping them one by one, the darkness compressed around the lights causing them to explode.

The mists and shadows crept along the ground, expanding out from the street sides towards the houses that lined the streets. Weaving through the grasses and leaving traces of frost where the dark vapors drifted. Animals, birds, and even insects fled the darkness in terror… or tried to.

“Wait here,” Zatanna told Tia as she ran downstairs. Shouting across the library she flung the door open.

"Jason, we need Etrigan!”

A child’s laughter filled the air, and echoed down the street. Slowly coming out of the shadows, forms could be seen, twisted creatures like some cross between bugs and armored knights of old shambling down the street.

“Come out come out wherever you are,” the child’s voice said in a twisted singsong. “I just want to play.”

Making her way outside of the house, not so much as waiting for either of her two other allies to follow, she went towards the middle of the road the darkness had begun to envelop. Zatanna crossed her arms as she looked at the child before her. Child, though is a deceptive term. This was a chaos lord after all. He was hundreds of years old, and far more powerful user of magic then even her. But she wasn’t going to let him run wild.

“What are you doing here, Klarian? Isn’t this a little far from your normal playground?” Zatanna interrogated, readying her want for whatever the chaos lord may have been planning.

“Teekl here sensed something. Something new. So I came to see if it wanted to play,” Klarian answered simply as a feline crawled onto his shoulder. Klarian reaching for and scratching cat behind its ear, earning a soft purr from it.

“There’s nothing here for you to play with,” Zatanna said firmly, narrowing her eyes.

Shaking his head Klarian flicked his hand dismissively, “Take your baby magic and run off to some stage somewhere. This is big Mage business. Something or someone here caught our interest, and since they are not aligned, they will need to choose. Order or Chaos.”

“Since when? You don’t need to choose,” Zatanna returned, waving her own wand as though shooing away an animal. “So get out of here.”

Thoroughly tired of speaking with her by that point, Klarian gave a slight whirl of his hand before conjuring a blast of fire in Zatanna’s direction. There was little attempt to actually hit her, just a reminder that she was out-classed. The blast was still powerful enough however to cause a nearby car to explode, the shockwaves blowing Zatanna sideways and causing her to shield her face with her arms.

A handful of spheres flew towards Klarian at that moment, exploding on the ground in brilliant flashes of white, yellow, and blue. An instant later, the air was filled with thick greyish black smoke. Landing beside Zatanna, Batman looked at her.

"Are you ok?” The Mage nodded slowly, rubbing her head slightly as she stood herself up once again.

“Fine, Bats.”

As the smoke cleared some, the purple glow of Klarian’s shield became visible. With childlike laughter, Klarian looked between the two before him.

“Really? You brought friends? Couldn’t you find someone useful like Doctor Fate?" he questioned, a smug smile over his face.

“That depends. Will I do?” Etrigan roared as he suddenly came into view, unleashing a spout of fire that washed over Klarion’s shield.

Klarian put his hand up strengthening his shield against the demon’s blast and huffed.

“Three on one? So much for being heroes. You’re just a bunch of bullies. I guess I’ll need to make some friends of my own then,” hearing this, Etrigan let up some on the fire he spouted, giving out a sharp laugh.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that was the only way for someone like you to have friends. By making them,” Etrigan taunted. However, Klarian simply ignored him, turning towards the trees and bushes that lined the sides of the streets. At least, the ones that had not yet died if the frost from his shadows.

"Et da servis chaos vires vocare lignea meum!” He chanted as he pointed towards the plants, green tendrils of energy rising from the ground before wrapping around them. The energy pulled them down, twisting them and reforming them into servants of the witch boy. Branches and bark reformed into wolf-like creatures, wooden stakes becoming teeth and claws, the energy used to create them concentrating in their eyes, leaving them with a green glow.

With a primordial howl the wooden wolves scattered, heading not just for Batman, Zatanna, and Etrigan, but for the houses as well.

“Really? Wolf golems?” Zatanna questioned as she then threw her hands at one that charged her.

“Citenik tsalb!”

A wave of force extended from her hands, shattering the wolf and sending twigs and sticks skidding across the ground.

Throwing a pair of bat-a-rangs, the projectiles imbedded themselves in the wooden backs of the golems, a single red light on each flashing briefly before the devices exploded, showering a small area with debris.

“Oh look, the child has created timber wolves,” Etrigan said with a chuckle.

Zatanna blinked looking over at Etrigan, as she processed what he had said.

"Timber wolves? Really?” she asked, raising a brow as she looked to him.

“Well, they look like wolves, and are made of timber, so yes. What, I can't be allowed to speak my mind?" Zatanna simply stated at him, speaking volumes all the same. Etrigan shook his head.

“Either way, we are not done yet,” Etrigan spoke, pointing to the debris of the wolves as it all began to reform into wolf forms it had all been blown from once more.

As this occurred, the three could barely hear the sound of a wolf's howl behind them, followed shortly by a little girl's scream.

“And it seems they have found the little princess. Oh joy...” Etragan spoke with a sarcastic groan.

“Oh, she’s a princess you say?” Klarian said with a smile, apparently not having taken note of his sarcasm. “This should make things even more fun then."

Turning, Batman ran for the house throwing another handful of explosive charges into the timber wolves, shattering them again.

“Etrigan burn the wolves,” he commanded gruffly, the demon leaping back as Klarian pointed his fingers outwards as a child would a pretend firearm, firing blasts of energy at the demon. Roaring out, the demon unleashed a blast of fire that vaporized the wood before it could reform, while also colliding with the energy blast and causing it to implode.

Zatanna, having begun to make her way towards the house, had just reached the lawn when Anya, now in her larger form, Celestia, came crashing out of the window with two wolves on her. One held onto a wing with its jaws, keeping it from moving, whilst the other attempted to bite her hind leg. Throwing her hand up Zatanna yelled, "Citenik tsalb! And err… Tserra Llaf! Oh, whatever!”

The energy blast that came forth as a result knocked the wolves clear off, seconds before Celestia was caught in Zatanna’s magical grasp and lowered slowly to the ground.

“Ohh, an alicorn!” Klarian observed happily, rubbing his hands together. "Just think of the fun we could have with that Teekl.”

Digging her feet in, Zatanna stood her ground between the witchboy and Celestia. Several timberwolves formed a semicircle before her, one howling eerily while the rest seemed to glare at the two. Batman moved to stand beside Zatanna, drawing out his Tazerknuckles and slamming them together causing electricity to dance between them. Finally, Etrigan snarled as he as well stood on the other side of Zatanna.

“Protecting the princess are we?" Klarian noted bemusedly, just as Etrigan then proceeded to roll his eyes.

“She’s not really a princess, you idiot us, she’s a-” Etragan started before Zatanna put her hand in front of the demons face.

“Idiot? How dare you!” Klarian shrieked in rage, offended by the claim as he crossed his arms and lashed out, sending a wave of fire washing down the street. The heat was so intense it instantly melted cars and vaporized flammable objects, including the timberwolves.

“Oh hell!” Zatanna said in a panic. “Dleihs Llaw!!!”

Her spell quickly formed a glowing red wall in front of them, but she knew it wouldn't be enough. This wasn’t like trying to stop or counter one of the shadow wizard's attacks. She gave it everything she had, though, at the very least hoping it would diminish some of the power held behind it.

The wall of fire slammed into her shield, barely being held back for a second or two, before shattering it like glass. Zatanna screamed, falling backwards from the force of the blast as Batman threw his cloak over himself and the mage. The flames left molten tar in their wake as they hit finally hit and exploded up and outwards.

“Mrowl?” The cat upon his shoulders commented, to which Klarian rose a brow.

“What? I did not get carried away,” he assured.

“Meow.”

“No, I didn’t go overboard either,” Klarian huffed, watching as the smoke cleared before him, showing the three individuals that stood there, unharmed.

“See? They survived it,” he then commented, unaware of what he said.

“MEOW!" hearing the feline, Klarian blinked, looking at the three before, with wide eyes, suddenly giving out a shocked yell.

"Wait, they survived that?!”

Searching his mind for whatever possibility may have allowed the three to survive, Klarian was halted as he took note of Celestia, now standing as she held her wings up before her, shielding herself in fear. The all-too-familiar glow around her horn, a brilliant magenta coloring that came from it was mirrored by a large shield in the shape of a giant wing in front of the four of them. The shield had, apparently, blocked the attack, leaving a ring of undamaged asphalt around them amidst a sea of bubbling tar.

Panting slowly Celestia lowered her wing, and as she did, the shield lowered and faded away. Turning she faced Klarian, her eyes glowing pure white as the glow in her horn grew brighter. Her mane and tail dancing with energy in the ethereal winds as she looked at the Lord of Chaos.

“Mrowl.”

“Unexpected is an understatement,” Klarian returned to the feline, a brow of his raising before he addressed the being that had done this.

“Well, you must be that magical energy we’ve sensed,” he commented, watching as a large globe of polychromatic light and energy formed above her horn, crackling and whirling. Celestia, seemingly out of instinct, stomped her forelegs into the ground and let out an almost primal whinny, before pointing her empowered horn towards him. Seeing where this was going, and rather swiftly at that,Klarian widened his eyes.

“Oh heck,” he said simply, a slightly panicked expression on his face as Klarian swiftly jumped backwards through a red portal, vanishing just as the energy blast was released. The blast ran down the street, cutting a trench nearly ten feet deep. It ripped up power lines, water pipes and sewage pipes. It sent the remains of cars flying in high arcs as it ripped a trench nearly half a mile long.

To put it simply, it decimated everything in its path.

It wasn't until a moment later, however, that Celestia wobbled, the feeling in her legs wavering ever so slightly.

Batman kept the cloak up to shield himself from her as he pulled back the tranquilizer. Quickly, he drew a second charge from his belt loading the injector just in case.

This proved unnecessary, however, as Celestia staggered for a moment before falling on her side unconscious.

The only movement from her was her slow breathing as she slept on the street where she had fallen.

“And what did you do that for?” Zatanna asked as she stood up from her previous position, noting the tranquilizer dart that stood out from the now unconscious mare's right side as she laid on the ground.

"To stop her,” Batman answered simply, putting the injector away as he shook his head. “She could have killed thousands of people if it were later in the day.”

“It’s not her fault, she just needs some training and control," The Mage told him, brushing herself off as she looked to him with a glare.

"And in the meantime every magic using villian and power seeker will be looking for her,” the Dark Knight added.

“That doesn’t give you the right to knock her out like that!” she responded, placing a hand on her hip as she looked towards the caped crusader with a scowl. “We can’t keep her asleep forever.”

“She is dangerous,” he returned, “Too dangerous to stay here.”

“She’s a scared child, untrained in the power she has. Would you keep Supergirl unconscious?” Zatanna asked, stomping a foot.

“If I had to, yes.”

Zatanna’s face went red.

“She has done nothing wrong! We can’t lock her up and keep her sedated.”

“And we cannot leave her,” he added on sternly. “She is a danger to this city. We keep her guarded until we can send her to Themyscira.”

Both Etrigan and Zatanna looked at each other, then at Batman.

“Themyscira? Heh, they have magical shields to obscure the island, they raise horses and pegasi, and they have experience with magic,” Etrigan said with a smirk. “Sure, let her be their problem. For once the Bat has a good idea.”

“What about her life here?” Zatanna asked, her scowl deepening as she looked between the two.

“She’s a stinkin’ horse, Zatanna. I could find a cart to tie her up to, maybe dangle a carrot in front of her,” Etrigan said flicking his hand to indicate the mare laying on the ground. “Otherwise, unless we can turn her human again, she will have no life here.”

“We’ll bring her to the Watchtower for now, until I can get Diana to take her to the island,” Batman said, turning away from the two as Etrigan looked at the damage to his house, which, unlike them, had withstood the full brunt of Klarien's last attack. The blast had to go somewhere, after all, and that somewhere was unfortunately his home.

"And… what about my house?” he asked.

“Send me the bill,” the Dark Knight responded, putting a finger to his ear piece. "Can I get an emergency transport at my location?”

“Bill you? I don’t know if local contractors take bat dollars… then again, this is Gotham so…” rubbing his chin, he watched as Zatanna, Batman, and the mare, suddenly disappeared as a result of the Watchtower's teleportation system.

“... 'Bill you'… Right, well, I always wanted a new pool, entertainment room, and such. Heh, 'bill you' I shall.”

***

Celestia felt lightheaded, dizzy even. Her mouth was dry and her neck was sore. Lying quietly, she flicked an ear. After a moment she flicked it again. Surprisingly, to her at least, she was managing to do so voluntarily.

‘Wow I can move my ear.’ Moving her ear around, she started listening to the world around her.

The hum of electronics and whir of fans seemed to be a common sound. There was the sound of people walking in the halls, conversations just at the edge of her hearing. Much closer though, there was an argument.

“Can we at least let her come around long enough for food and water?” Zatanna questioned sadly.

“Diana will be here soon. She can hold out till then,” Batman told her.

“And the guard?”

“He’s watching over her to make sure she doesn’t have any more accidents.”

“And I’m watching over her to make sure no one hurts her,” another voice suddenly came into the conversation.

Noting this, Celestia opened her eyes, seeing what looked like a medieval knight; a real life knight wearing armor and carrying a sword. A true to gosh knight.

Raising her head, the mare looked over the being, a smile of amazement appearing over her features.

"I’m being protected by a knight?” Celestia questioned and giggled, “So cool.”

“Sir Justin ma’lady. Though I am here to ensure you do not wander. It is dangerous here afterall,” he stated, to which she gave a slight nod.

“Oh, I thought you said you were making sure no one would hurt me,” she said, glancing around the area.

From what she could tell, she was currently in a sort of storage area; at least that would be her guess with all the boxes and crates around. Batman and Zatanna, in the meantime, stood at the door to the room. The Knight, Justin, was only a few feet from her.

Seeing her move, Batman drew an auto injector from his belt again.

“She seems to be adapting to the drugs, staying down for shorter and shorter times. I’ll have to change the dosage.”

Celestia blinked, and quickly shrank down to her smaller form in fear. Looking at Batman with sad eyes she whimpered.

“Please don’t, I’ll be good. I’ll behave,” she pleaded, backing herself away as much as she could in her small, tired form.

“I’m sorry, but right now it’s for your own good,” Batman answered, walking towards her with the injector in hand.

Before he could get any closer though, a large male pegasus came between him and her, spreading his wings as if to make a sort of wall.

"No, it is for what you believe to be your own good. I will not let her come to harm,” the stallion was pure white, with a red caparison and golden trim.

Taking a step back Batman raised an eyebrow.

“Victory, what has gotten into you?” Sir Justin stated more than asked in surprise of the pegasus’ reaction.

“He shall not pass,” the pegasus responded, stomping a foreleg and keeping his wings spread.

“Victory, behave yourself,” Sir Justin said firmly.

Tia couldn’t help but giggle, instantly noticing exactly what the being was saying, the form in which he did so, and even his apparent stance. “Lord of the Rings?” she asked.

Looking over his shoulder the pegasus chuckled. “Favorite movie.”

Batman looked between Tia and Victory, slowly noting the stallion’s body language.

Sir Justin turned to look at Tia, and though it could not be seen, a brow of his rose, “You can speak with him?”

“Yeah. He said he’s going to protect me, make sure no one hurts me,” she said nodding. Then the realization sank in of what and why he asked. Blinking, she tilted her head and looked towards the others, “Wait, you can’t understand him?"

Zatanna couldn’t help but smile at this, leaning against the doorframe.

“Well this is interesting.”