Arkham Knight: Agent of Harmony

Wheat Lee looked up from his clipboard at the sound of a large engine revving. Moments later, The Arkham Knight’s vehicle pulled into the laboratory. The cockpit opened, and out of the car climbed Arkham.

“I got your message. What’s this all about?” demanded Arkham as he approached the scientist.

“Well, first off, congratulations on apprehending Miss Dust. As a matter of fact, your actions left a bit of an impression on the population,” said Wheat Lee, pulling out a remote and turning on a nearby monitor. On it was a newscast.

“-news from Ponyville: a strange creature has appeared out of nowhere,” said the news anchor as footage of The Arkham Knight fighting the Shadowbolt came on the screen. “Nopony knows what it is or what its intentions are. However, all sources seem to agree on its name: The Arkham Knight. More on this story as it develops.”

As Wheat Lee turned off the monitor, The Arkham Knight chuckled softly. “I have to admit, that’s some damn good television,” he said.

“Don’t get too cocky, Arkham,” warned Wheat Lee.

“What? I was complimenting the TV.” The Arkham Knight said with a chuckle.

“True, you got an easy first fight but there might be tougher ones ahead.” warned Wheat Lee. “And more importantly, not all of the missions the Princesses want to send you on use the guns blazing approach. They’ll require a bit more stealth and finesse in order to be completed. That’s why they’re sending over some help.”

“Help? What do you mean help?” asked Arkham, mildly confused and interested at the same time.

“Who do you think?”

Arkham groaned in frustration as he turned to face the newcomers. Of all the ponies they had to send, they just had to send HIM. “Hello, Shining Armor,” he said.

Shining Armor, clad in his uniform, walked forward. With him was what appeared to be a bat pony wearing a stylized dark blue suit of armor with black fur and icy blue eyes with slits for pupils. “Hello Arkham. My name is Night Shade. I am the captain of the Lunar guard and will assist you in your stealth based training. Captain Armor has agreed to train you on combat.”

“I bet he begged for it, didn’t he?”

“Almost... but I had my dignity to take care of after all. Oh, and it was to make sure we have another round of fun.”

“Your definition of fun and mine are two very different things, cap.”

“I’ll bet they are, especially considering that you’re not from around here,” admitted Shining Armor. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get this thing started.”

“Very well, then, gentlecolts, if you’ll follow me,” said Wheat Lee.

The Arkham Knight, Shining Armor, and Night Shade followed Wheat Lee down various hallways, where it looked like a variety of things were being tested out, most of which were weapons such as a grenade that seemed to encase dummy targets in what looked like ice and a grapple claw that suspended the targets by their ankles or sent heavy objects flying towards them.

Finally, after a few moments of navigating the halls, Wheat Lee, The Arkham Knight, Shining Armor, and Night Shade arrived at what appeared to be just a dark room. Even with his mask’s enhanced vision capabilities, Arkham couldn’t see for more than ten feet in front of him.

“Where are we? What is this place?” asked the Knight.

“Lights,” said Wheat Lee.

As the lights slowly turned on, they revealed a very futuristic-looking room that reminded the Arkham Knight of something from the Tron movies, with its dark gray steel textures and glowing lines of neon light here and there. Scattered all across the floor were what appeared to be platforms of some kind, possibly for transporting target dummies of some kind.

“Gentlemen,” said Wheat Lee, turning to face The Arkham Knight, Shining Armor, and Night Shade, all three of whom seemed impressed with the room. “Welcome to The Proving Grounds.”

Arkham looked at Wheat Lee, his deadpanned expression hidden under his mask. “The Proving Grounds? That’s seriously the best name that you guys could come up with for this place?” he asked the scientist.

“Yes, well, calling it the Training Facility was too boring,” said Wheat Lee, a hint of irritation in his face. “Now, then, allow me to explain what’s what with this facility. This room is designed to run a full scale obstacle course to help you exercise your stamina and endurance. A fighting arena to train your durability and skills and a predator ground to help you improve on your stealth.”

“Okay... anything else?” Arkham asked.

“Well… we have a race course for your vehicle.”

This seemed to brighten the Knight’s mood. “Well, okay then. When do we start?” asked Arkham.

Wheat Lee smirked. “Combat training begins…right now,” he said.

And with that, he, Shining Armor, and Night Shade made their way into an observation booth while a squad of seven robots ascended from the floor and the Proving Grounds shifted into its Combat Arena mode. Arkham cracked his neck a bit as one robot came charging towards him.

“Bring it on, metal-” the Knight started to say before another robot tackled him and pushed him into the wall, knocking the wind out of him before it started to give him a beatdown that only got worse as the other robots joined in and started pummeling him.

“Ow, ow, okay, ow! Knock it off you buckets of bolts!” yelled Arkham while the three ponies in the control booth laughed their heads off.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” said Wheat Lee before he pressed a button on his control panel that deactivated the robots, revealing the battered form of The Arkham Knight underneath.

“Is your mask supposed to be flickering like a bad TV channel?” asked the grinning Shining Armor.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK, SMART ASS?!” yelled Arkham in anger as he pulled himself up off of the floor.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough you two,” said Wheat Lee with a smirk. “Let’s try something a little less painful for you, shall we? Like, say, some strength and endurance training?”

“Oh, yes, let’s,” said the Knight, his voice modulator full of sarcasm.

“No need to be snarky,” responded Wheat Lee as he changed the room to a track and field setting.

Arkham heaved a sigh and began to run the obstacle course. Hopefully this would be easier than getting thrown right into combat training.

…

Several hours later, The Arkham Knight was lying on the ground with his mask open, panting and gasping for breath as the sweat dripped off of him. Meanwhile, up above him, Shining Armor and Night Shade were discussing what exactly they should do with him.

“There’s a lot to be desired here if this Arkham Knight is to be Equestria’s supersoldier as the Princesses hope,” said Night Shade.

“Hey, I wasn’t exactly Royal Guard material myself when I first joined up. Now look at me. I’m Prince Concert of the Crystal Empire AND I’m the Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard,” said Shining Armor. “Not entirely sure how that works, but still.”

“Fair enough,” said Night Shade with a shrug. “All the same, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

“That I don’t doubt.”