Eternal Knightfall

Guns. Lots of guns. And knives. And grenades. And all sorts of other gadgets, protective gear, and weaponry. That’s what lined the walls of the Armory’s Equipment Room.

“Come on,” said the Arkham Knight, gesturing for Sunset to enter. “The first thing we need to do is upgrade your wardrobe, because the one you’re wearing right now isn’t going to let you survive this impending war with Nightmare Moon and her subordinates, so I suggest you start with the protective gear before you choose your weapons.”

Sunset nodded and began looking through the protective vests and light armor, trying to find something that would work for her. As she did, the Knight spoke up again. “So, uh… do you have any actual combat skills or abilities?”

“Well, yeah, of course I do,” said Sunset as she held a bodysuit against her slender frame. “I was Princess Celestia’s apprentice back when her School for Gifted Spellcasters was open. She taught me all kinds of offensive and defensive spell, like this one spell that not only turns me invisible, but completely mutes my movements.”

“Yeah, that’s all well and good, but can you actually kick someone’s ass WITHOUT using any hocus-pocus whatsoever?” asked the Knight.

Sunset looked a little nervous before she gave her answer. “Well… I can kick and punch, if that’s what you mean. But, why does it matter when I can just use my magic and your guns to blast enemies out of the way?”

The Arkham Knight chuckled. “A typical response. It seems as though Celestia’s teachings have taught you to rely too much on magic alone. To be honest, magical training from what amounts to a sun goddess might be well and good if we were squaring off against common thugs and criminals. Except, we’re not,” he said, turning to look Sunset dead in the eye. “We’re going up against a tyrant who has god-like magic of her own and who has her hands wrapped around this country’s, hell, maybe even this whole world’s throat. And backing her up is a battle-hardened, possibly augmented, army and God only knows what else. An enemy with Nightmare Moon’s resources and power more than likely has the means to negate magic. You’ll need to be able to fight should that happen. Is that understood?”

Sunset nodded her head and said, “Yes.”

“Good. Now, hurry up and get your equipment together, and I’ll get the AR Room ready.”

…

Meanwhile, in Nightmare Castle, three women were approaching the conference room, where they’d been summoned to by their queen, Nightmare Moon.

“What do you think her majesty wants to see us for?” asked one of the women, who had purple hair with a streak of mint green in it and wore a white labcoat with the New Lunar Empire coat-of-arms on the left hand breast pocket and a black tank top underneath, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. This was Starlight Glimmer, Head of Nightmare Moon’s Science Division.

“I haven’t the slightest idea, yet I can’t help but wonder if this has something to do with those strange rumors I’ve heard about that sun-worshiper’s getaway,” said the second woman, whose purple hair was tied up into a bun and wore a simple diamond necklace, a navy blue dress jacket with a white shirt underneath, a matching skirt, black heels, and red glasses. This was Rarity Belle, and she was in charge of the New Lunar Empire’s financial business. “One of your projects didn’t escape, did it, Starlight?”

Starlight shook her head. “I’m a geneticist, not a robotics engineer. Rainbow’s the one in charge of weapons development as she’s the Captain of the Guard. Ask her,” she replied.

The third woman woman turned to look at Starlight. She had shoulder-length pink hair and wore a black leather jacket with a pink shirt underneath,  a dark pink skirt, and knee-length black boots. “That reminds me, when are you going to give Chomper back to me, huh?”

“Pinkie, I told you once already we-” said Starlight before an animalistic growl from the pink-haired woman cut her off.

“DON’T-CALL-ME-PINKIE!!!” she snarled, putting her fist right up to Starlight’s face.

“Whoa, whoa, okay, Pinkamena,” Starlight said defensively. “As I was saying, we still need him for running some tests for my project.”

“You mean you still need him to make monsters?” asked Pinkamena.

“Shh! Not so loud!” hissed Starlight.

A few moments of walking in silence passed by before Rarity decided to break the tension.

“So, Pinkamena, how goes the mining projects?” she asked.

“About as well as one could expect them to go, even with that Fluttershy and her tree-hugging hippie pals trying to get in the way with all of their ‘damaging the ecosystem’ bullcrap. I mean, in case they haven’t noticed, the sun’s been gone for a whole six years now, so one would think the ecosystem would be a lost cause. In any case, we’re here,” said Pinkamena, pointing at a pair of large double doors.

Starlight stepped forward, turning the silver doorknob and opening the door. A long, but silent, creak filled the room as the door opened, Starlight noticing the silhouette of Nightmare Moon herself standing at the end of the room, gazing out the large, circular window onto her kingdom.

Starlight stepped into the room along with Pinkamena and Rarity, each of them stopping a few feet behind her and bowing on one knee.

“You’ve asked for us, your Highness?” Rarity spoke.

“Yes, indeed I have.” Nightmare Moon spoke, taking a moment longer to gaze upon her kingdom before turning, looking down to the three women, “Starlight, I would like to know. How are things going with that little... Hehe... Pet project you’ve been working on?”

“I, uh... I’ve made some progress. He hasn’t grown as much as I’d originally thought, but he has grown quite big.” Starlight responded.

“Good, good. And Pinkamena? How’s your little friend who’s down in the mines with you?” Nightmare Moon asked, turning to Pinkamena.

“He’s, uh... He’s fine. He still doesn’t really speak with anyone, and he prefers staying down in the mine in his own little tunnel he’s made, with us bringing his food and other supplies to him.”

“Good... Good. And Rarity? How has the payment gone along?” Nightmare asked.

“The payment has gone successfully your Highness. But I wonder, who is this ‘Deathstroke’?” Rarity asked.

Nightmare Moon turned her gaze back out the window. “Someone who will come to great use to us in getting rid of this ‘Arkham Knight’. Just make sure not to tell Rainbow.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow, wondering what Rainbow would have against calling in this ‘Deathstroke’, but she simply nodded, saying “Yes your highness,” and walked out the door with Starlight and Pinkamena.

…

An alarm bell was going off inside a well-furnished bank as groups of thugs dressed like garbage workers began heaving piles of money into the garbage bags they had with them. What they didn’t realize was that they were being watched by the Arkham Knight and Sunset Shimmer, who was now wearing a lightly armored black bodysuit with black leather boots, black fingerless gloves, a black belt with two holsters on each side and a variety of other gadgets, and a black leather overcoat.

“Welcome to the Financial Crash Predator AR Map, Sunset. Perfect for a rookie like you, as with that alarm blasting, you don’t necessarily need to be stealthy with your attacks. All you have to do take out these thugs and we’ll see where you fit in from there.”

“I have to... Take them out? How? They’re everywhere!” Sunset said, watching the groups of thugs in the bank, all of them taking as much money they could carry before hobbling from the bags over to the doors, where a garbage truck that had crashed through the doors was waiting for them.

“The alarm will be able to drown out your actions, so don’t worry about them hearing you.” Knight said,“But the alarm won’t last forever, so you’ll have to work quick if you want to get them before it gets cut. After that, you’ll have to work quickly and silently to take them out. Use the floor grates and gargoyles on the ceiling to your advantage.”

Sunset looked to the Knight, and then back down, nodding. “Okay, but how am I going to get to the gargoyles?”

“For that, you’ll have to use this.” Knight said, pulling out a small object that seemed to have the appearance of a handgun, but had a hook at the end of it. “It’s a grappling hook, but it’s called a Batclaw.”

“‘Batclaw’? Why call it a Batclaw?” Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow as she took it from the Knight. It was about as heavy as it looked, with a brown and seemingly wooden grip, with a large barrel that had another, slightly smaller barrel on the bottom of it.

“... It’s because of an old friend of mine.”  the Knight said, his voice sounding distant and coming off as a whisper almost, “That’s all I’ll be saying about that... Now come on. You’ve still got a room full of bad guys to take out.”

Sunset gave the Knight one last look before nodding and firing the batclaw at a gargoyle on the opposite end of the room. The grappling hook then pulled Sunset towards the gargoyle.

“Whoa… what a rush,” said Sunset as she pulled herself up onto the gargoyle. From her perch, she caught sight off two thugs, both with their backs turned towards her. “Perfect… easy pickings,” said Sunset as she dropped down from the gargoyle, drew her pistols and snuck up behind the thugs.

She stood up behind the thugs and pointed her pistols to the back of their heads, putting her fingers on the triggers, but then hesitating. She closed her eyes and lifted them, bringing them down hard on the thugs and knocking them unconscious.

She sheathed her pistols and got out the batclaw, firing it at a gargoyle further away and was lifted to it. The area was still filled with thugs, and she figured it wouldn’t take long for the others to find their two unconscious friends, so she’d have to work faster.

A thug began to walk under the gargoyle she was rested on, carrying two large bags of cash. She jumped down and landed on the thug, knocking him down to the ground face first and knocking him out cold.

She fired again quickly, checking around her to make sure nobody had spotted her as she was lifted to another gargoyle. There were two more thugs under her, and she could see three more walking to the truck, carrying two bags each.

She dropped down slowly, using the batclaw to slow her descent, and landed behind the two thugs. She unsheathed and lifted up her pistols, bringing them down hard onto the thugs. And just then, just as her pistols made contact with the thugs’ heads, the alarm stopped and the impact of her victims being hit was out for everyone in the building to hear along with the dull thud of their bodies falling to the floor.

“Hey! What was that?” She heard a thug call out.

“You guys okay?” Another one said.

She quickly fired the batclaw up to the gargoyle above her, but heard a short cry of fear coming from the door. She turned and saw a thug back up quickly from seeing her, but then aim his gun directly at her.

Just as he fired at her, she was shot upwards to the gargoyle, screaming as she felt the bullets fly past her. As soon as she landed on the gargoyle she fired to the ceiling, swinging to a gargoyle closer to her.

She continued swinging, hoping that the thugs would eventually lose her. Which they did, thankfully as she had grown tired from the constant swinging from gargoyle to gargoyle.

“Getting a little sloppy there, Sunset!” said Arkham. A heartbeat later, she turned and looked to the last three thugs in the room. They were shaking heavily from what she could see, and they seemed like they would shoot at the sound of a pen dropping.

“They’re terrified. Use that.” Sunset nodded at the Knight, then watched as two thugs walked away from the other, both of them walking with each other back to back while the lone one wandered off, struggling to stop shaking.

Sunset pulled out a shuriken from a pocket on her outfit, and threw it towards the two thugs… and missed completely. However, the ping the projectile made when it hit the wall caused the goons to turn away from Sunset and open fire in the general direction of the noise, giving her the opening she needed.

“What the Hell was that?!” asked one of the thugs, before he and his friend had their heads smashed together by Sunset, rendering them both unconscious. Hearing the sound, the sole remaining thug ran as fast as he could to check on his allies, only to be stopped dead in his tracks by a burst of gunfire from Sunset’s pistol.

“Simulation complete,” said a computerized female voice as the AR Room returned to its original form and the Arkham Knight walked up to Sunset.

“Not bad, Miss Shimmer… not bad at all,” said Arkham, sounding impressed.

“Well, truth be told, that was actually kind of fun. It got my adrenaline pumping, that’s for sure,” said Sunset with a small smile.

The Knight crossed his arms. “Well, then, how about we have a little bit more ‘fun’ with a Combat Challenge Map?” asked Arkham.

“Bring it. I’m ready,” said Sunset as Arkham walked over to a nearby console and typed in a few commands.

“Simulation activated,” said the female computer voice as the interior of a ruined movie theatre, along with a small group of thugs, some of whom were armed with what appeared to be knives and sparklers appeared. Sunset cracked her neck in anticipation for the fight to come.

…

In the depths of Shadowgate Prison, a young woman around Sunset’s age with shoulder-length blue hair with a magenta stripe wearing a tattered lab coat, a blue dress shirt, a pink bow tie, black jeans, and black dress shoes appeared to be unconscious as she hung from the ceiling by her wrists, which were tied behind her back.

The cell door opened and a dark figure entered, causing the woman to stir.

“So… you’re still alive. I have to admit, you certainly have fight in you, Miss Sparkle… more than your brother does, anyway,” said the figure.

“My… my brother’s… alive?” asked Twilight Sparkle, her voice cracking from a dry throat.

“For now, he is,” replied the figure. “Right now, though, that’s the least of your concerns. You see, Nightmare Moon herself has paid me a very handsome amount of money to keep an eye on you, and keep you safe. At least, until this Arkham Knight nutcase shows up to try to rescue you.”

“The… who?” choked Twilight.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s nothing you need to worry about. He’ll be dead before long, followed swiftly by you and your brother.”