Arkham Knight: Agent of Harmony

As the sun set on Sweet Apple Acres, Arkham stood on the farmhouse balcony. He couldn’t help but wonder just what caused this world to shift in the direction it did. Was it simply him showing up that caused all of this? No that was stupid the whole world didn’t revolve around him. Perhaps he’d just been sent to a slightly altered version of Equestria by that Merchant. That was the only thing that made any sense. Although, what DIDN’T make sense to him was why the hell didn’t the people who run these conventions increase their security if people kept disappearing all over the place? Did they honestly just turn a blind eye to what had been going on under their noses?

Guess we’ll never know, thought Arkham bitterly, thinking of his younger brother’s reaction when he realized he wasn’t there.

Applejack walked out out onto the balcony behind The Arkham Knight, holding what appeared to be a suit and tie of some kind. “Howdy,” she said.

The Arkham Knight allowed a small smile to cross his face. “Hello,” he replied, his voice modifier making him sound grumpy.

Applejack paused for a moment. “Justin- er, can Ah call ya Justin?” asked Applejack nervously.

“Of course,” replied Arkham.

“Anyway, what’s wrong?” asked Applejack, walking up to Arkham’s side.

“Nothing. Just… thinking.”

“About what?”

Arkham sighed.“About my brother and why this world is so different from the way I thought it would be. I mean, I thought I knew a thing or two about this world when that Merchant sent me here, so I thought I’d have knowledge on my side, but now… almost everything’s changed.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” She asked him. Arkham just sighed.

“Not entirely, but it makes things more complicated. For instance I don’t know what’s coming next or how to stop it if it does.” He told her. She just giggled a bit.

“Sugar, you’re more worried than a turtle during dry season.”

“Well, if you were suddenly shipped off to an alternate reality, I’m sure you’d be a little worried about what was in store yourself,” said Arkham, a small smile under his mask.

“Ya got me there,” said Applejack, grinning from ear to ear. “Say, it’s almost time to meet up with the others. An’ since ya’ll can’t go to the restaurant wearin’ full battle armor, Ah got ya somethin’.”

With that, Applejack pulled out the suit she’d had behind her back. Applejack couldn’t really tell for certain due to his mask, but The Arkham Knight seemed impressed.

“Nice suit,” said the Knight.

“Thanks. It was my pa’s,” said Applejack, a sad look entering her emerald eyes. The Arkham Knight noticed this, but chose to remain silent. “Anyways, Ah reckon yer both about the same size.”

“Yeah, I think this’ll fit me okay. Thanks,” said Arkham.

Applejack’s smile returned. “Yer welcome. Now, hurry on inside an’ get changed...assuming you know how to get that there suit offa ya.”

“Well… duh I know how to get it off. What do you think it is? My whole body?” Arkham joked but deep inside he felt a bit of doubt. He may have put the suit on in his world, but since it’s become something like the real deal, how WOULD he take it off?

Well, if there’s button that opens up the mask, then maybe there’s a button that can get this thing off of me, thought Arkham as he followed Applejack into the house.

…

“Where are they?” asked Rainbow Dash, tapping her foot impatiently as she, Gilda, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie waited outside the Hayloft, waiting for Applejack and The Arkham Knight.

“Rainbow, just be a little patient, will you?” said an annoyed Twilight.

Gilda scoffed. “Patients are for hospitals, I’m hungry,” she said.

No sooner had the words come out of her mouth than a monstrous engine roared loudly as the Arkham Knight’s car pulled up, causing a little colt with brown fur and a helicopter hat to fall flat on his ass as the tire was an inch from his face.

The cockpit opened, and Applejack climbed out, but instead of The Arkham Knight, what appeared to be a furless, save for a small patch on top of his head, ape in a suit and tie climbed out.

“Ya know, one of these days yer gonna run somepony over with this here tank,” said Applejack.

“Yeah, but today isn’t that day, is it?” the ape said.

“Okay, two questions. One: where’d you get that bald gorilla? And two: WHERE THE BUCK IS THE ARKHAM KNIGHT?!” yelled Rainbow.

“I AM The Arkham Knight. I just left my armor in the trunk,” the ape said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, Justin saw both Pinkie and Rarity slip Fluttershy five pieces of gold each.

“Wait… you mean you... and the... okay, you know what? No, I’m not gonna dwell on this. It’ll just hurt my head.” Rainbow said.

“Not that it’d be that hard.” The ape responded. “Also, Arkham Knight is more or less an alias or a codename, y’know, like superheroes have. My real name is Justin Turner.”

The ponies and griffoness just stood and stared at Justin for what felt like days. Finally, Twilight spoke up.

“Well, Justin, perhaps you can tell us all a little bit about your home… preferably over some dinner. Come on, let’s eat,” said Twilight as Rainbow and Gilda led the way into the restaurant.

Unbeknownst to them, a dark figure lurked in the shadows of a nearby alleyway, watching the group enter the restaurant.

That’s right, Dash… enjoy the company of your friends and that birdbrain you call your lover. Because tonight's the night that you finally get what you deserve…

…

“Er... this is all... interesting,” Justin cautiously said. “But uh... is there anything that ISN’T just… you know... vegetables?” he asked as he looked through the menu.

“Not really. I mean, your kind’s not exactly a common breed in here in Equestria,” said Fluttershy. “Just out of curiosity, what exactly DOES a ‘human’ eat?”

“Well, humans are omnivores. Means we can eat both plants and meat, the most common of the latter being beef which comes from a cow, chicken, pork from a pig, and fish,” explained Justin, earning a terrified look from Fluttershy and Rarity. “Don’t worry, though. We don’t usually eat horse, and definitely not horses that can walk on two legs or have horns and wings.”

“That’s completely barbaric,” commented Rarity.

“Hey, it’s just how my kind survives.”

“Heh. I dunno. Seems kinda how my kind are to a degree.” Gilda said as she pulled out something that Justin instantly recognized as a ham sandwich.

“Hey uh... you’re… GONNA share that right fellow carnivore?”

“What, this? Dude, you just said you can eat plants too. You can live without meat for a while.”

“Oh, come on-”

Before Justin could finish his sentence, a large explosion blew apart the front entrance of the restaurant. Through it stepped what appeared to be a pegasus, a mare judging by her build, wearing what looked like a formfitting black and purple Wonderbolts flight suit with black leather knee length boots, black gloves, a mask that completely covered her face with yellow lenses in the eyeholes, and a black and purple wig.

“Knock knock!” said the costumed pony with a wicked grin under her mask as she watched the surrounding patrons panic and flee the building. “I’m looking for Rainbow Dash… anypony seen her?”

Gilda and The Mane 5 looked at Rainbow Dash, who simply nodded and stood to face this new threat.

“Who are you and what do you want with me?” asked Dash, her voice cold as ice.

“Oh, nothing much really. Just a chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for a few months now,” snarled the mare, before bolts of black lightning shot from her fingertips, sending Dash flying through a nearby window. “Oh, and I’m The Shadowbolt.”

Before The Shadowbolt could do anything further, she heard a gun cock behind her head.

“If you lay a finger on Rainbow Dash, so help me God, Faust, or whatever deity this world worships, they’ll be mopping your brains off the walls for a week.”

The Shadowbolt chuckled as she turned to face The Arkham Knight. “You can’t be serious with that getup you have on,” she said with a chuckle.

“Shall I shoot you full of serious?” replied the Knight, causing Gilda, Applejack, and a few other patrons to snicker.“Oh shut up. Like any of you could’ve said anything better.”

“I think we’re done here,” said Shadowbolt, firing a bolt of dark lightning at The Arkham Knight, sending the hero reeling backward, his Tactical Visor going crazy from the attack.

“Ugh! F***! Again with the censorship? What deity has control of the g****** bleeper button?!” snarled The Arkham Knight in anger, earning some concerned looks from the patrons. “Okay... that last curse I admit... a bit too much.”

“Okay, that happened… well, back to my vengeance!” said The Shadowbolt, returning her attention to a retreating Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, no you don’t!” yelled Arkham, firing a round of shots, a few of which actually nicked The Shadowbolt’s shoulder, causing her to turn around and face the Knight.

“Okay… since you really want to play, then let’s play,” snarled Shadowbolt, a purplish black ball of fire in her hand before she tossed it. Arkham quickly dodged the blast and aimed his gun back at her. She growled as her wings flared and she launched herself at him. Using his brain Arkham quickly jumped over her and let her fly into a wall. She yelled in pain but other wise just growled at him. “I’M GOING TO TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!”

“Oh. I’m ALL shaken up right now!”

Shadowbolt roared in fury as she sent a whole torrent of black lightning towards The Arkham Knight, who barely got out of the way in time and fired off a couple of shots, one of which nicked The Shadowbolt in the leg.

Crying out in agony, Shadowbolt fell onto one knee, hissing as pain ran through her like a razor blade. She may not like it, but she knew when she was beat. Her wings flared to life and she took off through the hole in the wall that she’d made.

“You’re not getting off that easy, Shadowdolt!” said Arkham as, much to the shock of everyone present, his black bat wings unfolded from behind his back and his jet booster turned on, allowing him to pursue the Shadowbolt.

Or, at least, TRY to.

“Yikes!” yelled Arkham as he crashed into the window of an office building, knocking over several cubicles walls as he did so. “Sorry! Excuse me! First-time flier! Hope that wasn’t worth anything! My bad!” As he finally reached the outside he focused on Shadowbolt and flew after her. She was fast but he figured that if he clipped a wing she’d stop flying. Pulling out his pistols he began firing randomly before trying to aim better.

Come on, aim straight, damn it! thought Arkham.

Finally, a scream told him that he’d finally found his mark, as he spotted the form of the Shadowbolt falling and crashing onto a nearby rooftop where she lay injured. Flying down to her, Arkham Knight found her whimpering in fear.

“P-please! D-don’t hurt me anymore! I’m sorry for what I did! You wouldn’t understand what Rainbow Dash did to me! She- she ruined my life, destroyed everything I worked so hard to create for myself!” The Shadowbolt whimpered as she tried to crawl away from what she no doubt saw as a terrifying creature.

A sneaking suspicion running through his mind, Arkham strolled up to Shadowbolt, and yanked off her mask and wig, revealing the tear-soaked face of Lightning Dust.

Should’ve seen this coming from a mile away, thought Arkham, his grim expression hidden under his mask.“Let me guess, you’re pissed off at Rainbow Dash for ratting you out about nearly killing her friends with a tornado, so you decided that you’d try and become so powerful that no one could stand up to you, am I right?”

“N-no…”

“Then tell me why you decided to ruin a night out with some of her good friends with Dark Magic?”

“SHE RUINED MY LIFE! I WAS JUST SNEAKING IN A COUPLE OF ENHANCERS FOR SOME ROOKIES BUT SHE COULDN’T KEEP HER DAMN MOUTH SHUT!”

“And I’m willing to bet that your family wasn’t exactly proud of your actions?”

“Th-they threw me out of the house and left me to die! They kept t-telling me all about how I’d disgraced the f-family legacy, and that as f-far as they were concerned, I was d-dead to them… I tried to tell them that I’d done it for them, b-but they just wouldn’t listen to me. They’ve always hated me,” sobbed Lightning.

Arkham couldn’t help but pity this pathetic excuse of a Pegasus. His finger rested on the trigger of his pistol… if he were to kill her, here and now, would it be murder, or assisted suicide?

No. That’s not what a true hero would do… they’d turn her loose, or at most bring her in and try to get her some help, thought Arkham, bending over to grab Lightning Dust’s arm. “Can you stand?”

“You shot me in th-the leg… of course I can’t stand,” said Lightning with a sniffle.

“Okay, then, first things first, we get you to a hospital and get you patched up. Odds are you might be in jail for a while after that, but I happen to know some… powerful friends. I’ll try to see if they can do anything to get you back on your feet again,” said Arkham.

“O-okay,” said Lightning.

As The Arkham Knight took to the skies once again with Lightning Dust in his arms, he felt strange somehow. He felt as though doing things like this was his duty. He also felt pride and honor. Was this how his baby brother had felt whenever he’d been called into action?

Was this how it felt to be a true hero?

Equestria is MY home now. I must be the knight in shining armor who has to protect it from harm from the monsters who seek to harm its citizens, no matter what the cost may be… no matter who I must face….. does EVERY superhero have to sound this cheesy?