Author's Note

Greetings Gotham, Joker here! Been awhile, huh? Well, I was playing Batman: Arkham Knight a couple days ago, and was visited by a desire to revisit this old project, and make some improvements and modifications to it and my original plans for it, as well as correcting a few spelling and grammar errors. And now, with a certain... issue... dealt with permanently, maybe I can finally get back in the groove of writing MLP fanfics a bit more consistantly.

Well, with that out of the way, let's get this party started!

Enter the Knight

A young woman clad in a black leather jacket, black jeans, black leather boots, and a pink blouse with a red and yellow stylized sun on the front, was running for her life through the streets of the cyberpunk dystopian city of Canterlot, where for some reason it always seemed to be raining.

Hot on her heels were humvees that bore the insignia of the New Lunar Empire. Inside one of them was the Captain of the Lunar Guard herself, no doubt growling and snarling with rage and frustration at the fact that she hadn’t been caught yet.

As the young woman turned into an alleyway, she quickly found her path blocked off by another humvee that was already pouring bat-winged troops clad in the midnight blue and black battle armor and mask of the New Lunar Empire, all of them armed with sleek military assault rifles, each ready to fire a couple hundred rounds per second into the young lady’s chest.

At the opposite end of the alleyway, another humvee pulled up, and from it emerged someone that everybody in the New Lunar Empire recognized.

“So… you really thought you could outrun us?” Rainbow said, taking her pistol from one of her soldiers. She had a rainbow-patterned mohawk and rose-colored eyes, and wore a suit of midnight blue and black armor that was somehow more elegant, regal, and yet more durable than the traditional Lunar Guard armor. A dark blue cape bearing the insignia of the New Lunar Empire was draped over her shoulder. Being a Night Flier like the rest of the Lunar Guard, she had a pair of bat wings attached seamlessly to her back. Otherwise, she looked like a normal human woman with a strong and athletic build, albeit one with a pair of fangs.

“Well, I thought it was worth a shot,” Sunset Shimmer answered, nervously smiling and shrugging.

“Wit won’t save you now. Only an act of God can save you, and that’s not likely to happen. After all, that’s the only thing that could’ve helped you and your little friend accomplish your goal,” replied Rainbow, a look of cold fury on her face that suggested Sunset was just a bit of muck to clean off her boots as she pulled back the hammer of her pistol. “Now, hold still so I don’t have to waste any more bullets.”

Sunset gulped and watched fearfully as Rainbow aimed her weapon directly at Sunset’s head, ready to pull the trigger.

A gunshot echoed through the alley. However, the gunshot didn’t come from Rainbow’s pistol. The Lunar Guard captain yelled in pain as her gun was shot out of her hand. Following the direction the gunshot came from, Rainbow, her men, and Sunset looked up and saw a dark figure crouched down on the edge of one of the buildings that made up the alleyway, its glowing eyes glaring at them as it sheathed a pistol that it held in its hand.

“Well, now, what have we here?” asked the silhouette, its synthesized voice sounding robotic as it glared down at the people in the alleyway.

“And just what the Sam Hell are you supposed to be?” demanded Rainbow.

“Oh, where are my manners?” said the silhouette before it jumped into the alleyway, the dim light from the nearby neon signs revealing it to be a being that seemed to be a mixture of a demon and a soldier or a mercenary. It wore the top half of a black, gray, and blue suit of body armor that had a white stylized insignia on its chest and both shoulders, red and black camouflage military pants with a belt that held two handguns and a variety of other weapons and gadgets, black and gray military combat boots, and glowing blue mask that had what looked like bat ears attached to it. “You can call me the Arkham Knight.”

Rainbow raised an amused eyebrow. “‘The Arkham Knight?’” she asked.

“Well, I tried to pick a memorable name, a cool outfit, and some highly useful weapons and tools,” the Knight said with a shrug. “Now it’s my turn to ask the questions. Care to share why exactly you were chasing after this girl?”

“I could… but, I actually have a better idea,” said Rainbow, signaling her soldiers, who aimed their automatic rifles at the Knight, despite the looks of fear on their faces. “How about you ditch those weapons and get on your knees with your hands behind your head?”

The Arkham Knight chuckled and shook his head. “If you insist,” he said.

One of Rainbow’s men walked over to the Knight and took out a pair of restraints. As the soldier tried to cuff the Arkham Knight, he suddenly found himself crying out in pain as the Arkham Knight pulled out what seemed to be an absurdly sharp knife faster than blinking, turned his body, and stabbing the soldier in the stomach before turning his attention to Rainbow and the rest of her soldiers.

In the midst of the chaos that broke out almost immediately after the soldier that the Arkham Knight had stabbed collapsed to the ground, Rainbow grabbed an assault rifle from another soldier and aimed it towards the metal assailant, but he had already pulled out his dual handguns and fired four shots, taking out the legs of Rainbow’s guards, before quickly turning around and firing multiple shots to the others on the other side of the alley, making sure he didn’t hit Sunset.

Rainbow growled louder and began firing, ignoring the groaning soldiers at her feet as she stepped up to the Arkham Knight.

Acting quickly, the Arkham Knight threw a flashbang grenade at Rainbow, temporarily blinding her long enough for him to knock the rifle out of her hands and knock her to the ground. The Arkham Knight then stepped on Rainbow's chest and aimed one of his handguns at Rainbow’s face.

"Don’t make me shoot a woman. Especially a pretty woman like you,” warned the Arkham Knight, his synthesized voice full of menace. “Now, why are you hunting down ketchup and mustard over there?”

Sunset growled at the Knight’s insult, crossing her arms as Rainbow grimaced.

"I’m not going to ask twice hun,” said Arkham as he pulled back the hammer on his gun.

“First off, stop with the ‘hun’ and ‘pretty woman’,” Rainbow spat to the Knight, “and secondly, get the Hell out of here. This does not concern you.”

"Yeah, I could just walk away right now and let you guys take her away...” Arkham turned to Sunset, whose face turned to slight worry as she saw him turn to her, "...but fuck that. Now tell me, what do you want her for?” Arkham pressed his handgun up to Rainbow’s cheek, giving her the perfect opportunity to smack his hand away, knocking the gun out of his hand as she swept the leg that wasn't on her out from under him, knocking him to the ground, only for him to get back up in a simple, fluid move.

Rainbow got up as the Knight aimed his second pistol directly at her, but before he could fire, Rainbow grabbed his gun hand, and punched him as hard as she could in the face, staggering the Knight as her steel-knuckled gauntlets crashed against him. Arkham freed his hand from Rainbow’s vice-like grip as she attempted to punch the Knight in the face again, only for Arkham to duck under it and knee her in the stomach, although it didn’t really do much other than cause her to stagger thanks to her armor. Arkham quickly followed up the attack with an uppercut that knocked Rainbow’s head back and caused her to stagger once more.

Rainbow spat out the blood in her mouth and snarled angrily as she gave the Knight a headbutt, the impact from colliding with Arkham’s helmet causing the both of them to stagger before Arkham delivered a right cross to Rainbow’s jaw, causing her to stagger back into the wall. The Knight then tried to smash his armored boot into Rainbow’s face, only for her to grab onto his leg and pull him down to the ground again.

“Well, I must admit, you certainly know how to stand your ground. And, well, I do love a woman who can take care of herself,” growled the Arkham Knight as he pulled himself off of the ground.

“Well, you don’t become Captain of the Lunar Guard just by looks alone, you know,” replied Rainbow, who was starting to realize that going up against this Arkham Knight guy was a fight she couldn't win alone. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make a few calls.”

Before the Knight could stop her, Rainbow took to the skies faster than a bullet. Arkham growled in anger as he watched her escape before turning to Sunset, who whimpered in fear and involuntarily scooted herself away under the Knight’s gaze.

“You okay?” the Arkham Knight asked the woman on the ground as he held out his hand to help her up.

With a look of the utmost terror on her face, Sunset very, very carefully took the Arkham Knight’s hand. “Y-yes. I-I’m fine,” she whispered.

"Good. Grab a gun. Your BFF most likely went to call in some back up,” said Arkham as he crouched down in front of one of the dead Lunar Guards and grabbed his radio. Sunset nodded and did as she was told, taking a rifle from one of the other soldiers. “By the way, what’s your name?”

“Sunset. Sunset Shimmer,” replied Sunset, before she realized that Arkham was dismantling the radio he’d taken. “What’re you doing?” she asked the demonic being.

"Taking the encryption key from this radio,” Arkham explained as he pulled out a small device that resembled a video game controller and expanded it, causing a holographic screen to appear. He then inserted a small chip of some kind into the side. of the device. “If I can hack into these jarheads’ comms systems with my Cryptographic Sequencer, I’ll be able to listen in on them. They won’t be able to sneeze without me knowing about it.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that illegal?” she asked the Knight.

The Arkham Knight shrugged. “Can’t be any more illegal than anything I’ve done already,” he said, before looking over his shoulder at Sunset. “Or, judging by the effort these guys put into killing you, anything you’ve done, which we’ll be discussing once we get out of here.”

A moment later, the Arkham Knight successfully hacked into the Lunar Guards’ comms systems and was listening in on Rainbow’s transmission.

"-this is Captain Dash. I’ve run into a little trouble in attempting to apprehend the Shimmer girl. Some kinda gun-toting demon-robot thing came out of nowhere and just took out a bunch of my men. Request reinforcements to the alleyway on 4th and 2nd street,” said Rainbow over the Knight’s comms.

"Reinforcements are on the way, Captain,” replied a male voice.

“Crap. Time to go,” said Arkham as he grabbed Sunset’s hand and pulled her out of the alleyway into the street, just in time to see no more than six humvees pull up from both sides of the street, these ones armed with roof-mounted chain guns, and deploying more Lunar Guards as they screeched to a stop.

“Let’s see you fight your way out of this one,” said Rainbow Dash as she landed on top of a building across the street. “So, you ready to give up yet?”

"Oh, I’m far from ready to give up!” Arkham replied, his grin hidden by his mask as he pushed a button on the wrist of his left gauntlet. As Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, a loud roar was heard in the distance growing louder until a large silver vehicle blasted onto the street and towards Sunset and Arkham, ramming into a humvee and causing it to flip over before screeching to a halt in front of the Knight and Sunset. The tires then extended from the sides and a large cannon rose up from the top of the vehicle, giving it a tank-like appearance as the main weapon aimed right at the humvees behind Rainbow and her soldiers.

"60 Millimeter Cannon operational,” said a computerized female voice before the cannon fired several rounds at the humvees, destroying them on contact.

“Blow that thing to scrap metal!” yelled Rainbow, a hint of panic in her voice as her troops began to open fire upon the vehicle.

“Vulcan Cannon engaged,” said the female computerized voice as a turret unfolded from the side of the cannon and sprayed bullets into the attacking soldiers, ripping through their bodies and armor, causing their blood to splatter across the pavement and ruined vehicles, and forcing Rainbow to run for cover with a terrified expression that she would forever deny having worn.

With the soldiers either dead or seriously injured, Arkham grabbed Sunset’s wrist and pulled her to the car before climbing inside and pressing a button on the control console, causing the back to open and two seats with harnesses to extend out from it. "Alright! Now let’s get out of here!”

Sunset looked at the vehicle uneasily as she tried to catch her breath, a shiver of fear and suspicion stopping her from hopping right into one of the seats. “You know, my mother warned me about getting into cars with strange men,” she told the Arkham Knight.

“First off, this isn’t just a car. Secondly, what makes you think you have a choice? If you want to stay alive, that is,” replied Arkham.

Sunset winced at the Knight’s reply, knowing that he was right. “Okay, fine, just get us the Hell out of here in one piece,” she said, sitting down in one of the seats before the harness lowered itself, securing her inside as both of the back seats returned to the interior of the vehicle.

The Arkham Knight smirked under his mask as he punched the accelerator and drove away at breakneck speeds, all while Rainbow Dash was watching from her hiding spot in shock, horror, and awe.

Okay, what the Hell is going on here? Where did that thing come from, and where did he get that huge tank-mobile thing from? And those weapons, how’d he get his hands on those? thought Rainbow, her mind racing as she looked at the carnage the so-called Arkham Knight had left in his rescue attempt. All the same, no one makes Rainbow Dash look like a punk and gets away with it!

Fuming with anger, Rainbow ordered drone tanks and a helicopter to be deployed against that silver tank of the Knight’s.

As she sat in the back of the Arkham Knight’s vehicle, Sunset’s mind was racing with questions about this strange being who had saved her life. Where had he come from? Where did he get all of these weapons and this tank-mobile thing? And more importantly, where were they going now?

Almost as if he could read her mind, the Arkham Knight spoke up. “I know you must have a ton of questions you’re just dying to ask me, Sunset, like ‘Who the Hell is this guy?’ and ‘Where did he get all of these weapons and this strange vehicle from?’ Well, I’m afraid those questions will have to wait until you’ve answered all of my questions once we get back to The Armory,” said Arkham.

Sunset looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “First off, what’s ‘The Armory,’ and secondly, what questions?” she asked the demonic being.

“Oh, just some simple questions, like why in the Hell did the military put that much effort into making you dead, and why does my control panel clock say it’s 11:30 AM when it looks more like 11:30 at night?” replied the Knight. "As for The Armory, it’s my, or perhaps I should say our, base of operations. It’s located in the abandoned crystal mines underneath Canterlot. No one even remembers they exist in the first place. It’s the perfect place for a hideout, or maybe even a prison of some kind.”

“Okay, first off, what do you mean OUR base of operations? Who says I’m working with or alongside you at all. Secondly, if nobody remembers these mines exist, then how do you know about them?” asked Sunset.

The Arkham Knight chuckled. "You’d be surprised what you can learn by reading dusty old books, Sunset. More importantly, since you were just attacked by the military, I’m guessing you don’t have anywhere to go, so I figured I’d offer my hospitality. In any case, we’re almost there, so hang on-”

Before the Arkham Knight could finish his sentence, something exploded against the vehicle, nearly causing it to flip over. Listening in on the military’s radio frequency, the Knight learned that there was a small platoon of drone tanks and a remote-controlled attack helicopter headed their way.

Well, my day just keeps getting better and better, thought the Knight as he pressed a few buttons on his vehicle's dashboard. "So, I guess that rainbow-haired chick still wants to play," the Knight told Sunset. "You must've done something to really get on her bad side, huh?"

"Well, from what I've heard, Rainbow Dash really hates losing, and I'd say that you've handed her a pretty sound defeat so far," replied Sunset as the Arkham Knight's vehicle shifted into its tank form once again.

"Well then, let's deal her a knockout punch!" the Knight said as a vicious grin appeared on his face, although it was concealed by his mask "Deactivate weapons lock and set the Weapons Generator to maximum power! Sunset, I'd hold onto something!"

No sooner had the Knight finished talking did Rainbow's voice sound from a loudspeaker on the attack helicopter. "Come on, then, freak show! Let's see if you can keep up with me!" the Lunar Guard Captain snarled before the attack helicopter unleashed a hailfire of missiles and the drone tanks opened fire on the Arkham Knight's vehicle and actually managed to land a few hits on the vehicle even as it tried to evade the assault.

"Rrgh!" growled the Arkham Knight as his vehicle shook with the impact of the missiles and canon fire, even as he fired his 60mm Cannon, taking out a couple of the enemy tanks as the tungsten shells blasted the drones' sensor arrays. Taking a glance at his Weapon Energy gauge as he continued to open fire on the RC attack helicopter and drone tanks, the Knight found a smirk forming on his face when he saw that his vehicle's Weapons Energy had charged up enough to use one of his Secondary Weapons.

"This party's just a bit too crowded for my liking. Let's see how you handle yourself one-on-one, Captain!" snarled the Knight as he pressed a button on his steering wheel, activating his vehicle's Missile Barrage attack. True to its name, several missiles were launched from the Arkham Knight's vehicle, completely wiping out the remaining drone tanks.

"Whoa! That thing's got simultaneous strike capabilities?!" cried Rainbow Dash as she maneuvered her attack helicopter out of the way of the hail of missiles.

Arkham laughed. "You liked that, huh? Tandem-Charged Warheads, designed to penetrate even the toughest armor. And that's not the only surprise my baby's got in store…" the Knight said, never mind the fact that Rainbow couldn't actually hear him as he thought back to the Friend-or-Foe Override and EMP generator that he was developing back at his base.

Rainbow said something that Arkham couldn't exactly hear, but it sounded suspiciously like "I gotta get me one of those…" What Rainbow said next, however, Arkham Knight heard loud and clear.

"All right then. One-on-one it is!" Rainbow said before firing several missiles from her RC attack helicopter, which the Knight proceeded to shoot out of the air with his vehicle's Vulcan Cannon before blasting the chopper itself with the 60mm Cannon.

"Is that it? Is that really the best you can do for a so-called Lunar Guard Captain?! Come on, give me a real fight!" taunted the Arkham Knight as he and Rainbow's helicopter continued blasting each other, causing Sunset to turn her head towards the Knight.

"You… you're really getting into this, aren't you?" she asked the Knight.

"Not now, Sunset, I'm in the zone, and the last thing I need is for you to ruin my mojo," said Arkham without missing a beat as he continued blasting Rainbow's helicopter with gun and cannon fire alike.

It wasn't long before Rainbow's helicopter had smoke and flames coming out of it, causing the Lunar Guard Captain to chuckle. "Nice shooting there, Tex! You know, I kinda wish I could be in that thing, piloting it myself, but you know… I'm kiiiiiiinda a big deal in the Imperial military. That, and there isn't actually room for-"

Before Rainbow could finish talking, another cannon blast from the Arkham Knight's vehicle caused the remote-controlled attack helicopter to explode into a fiery inferno of scrap metal the crashed and dug up the ground as it skidded along it before finally coming to a rest a few feet away from the Arkham Knight's vehicle.

Arkham heaved a sigh as he re-enabled his vehicle's weapons lock and shifted it back into its vehicle form. "Now then, if there are no further interruptions, let's get to the Armory," the Knight said before punching the accelerator and blasting off, leaving the wreckage of the helicopter and drone tanks behind.

"OH, GIVE ME A BIG, FAT, BREAK!" screamed Rainbow Dash before she punched one of her men who happened to be standing nearby in the face, knocking him out cold and causing the rest of her troops to begin backing away slowly, knowing what their leader was like when she got angry. Of course, they all knew why Rainbow was so damn angry.

This should have been an easy, almost trivial assignment. Just catch Sunset Shimmer and bust a cap in her skull to keep the New Lunar Empire and Eclipse Labs' secrets concealed from the general public. If anyone found out what those eggheads were really up to behind closed doors… that could easily incite insurrection among the masses. And both Rainbow Dash and the Ruler of the Night she served knew that they'd have to tighten their grip, and the tighter their grip, the more the number of rebels and dissidents would grow, which in turn would provide them with better equipment and gear, possibly allowing them to overthrow the Empire given enough time.

But this Arkham Knight character… his weapons technology was years ahead of the Empire's own. He single-handedly blasted his way through drone tanks and a helicopter, and killed or critically injured about a dozen of her troops to prevent Sunset Shimmer from facing justice. Rainbow herself didn't know exactly what to make of him, and she sure as Hell didn't know where he'd come from or where he'd gotten his equipment.

One thing Rainbow did know, however, was that Her Majesty needed to know about this guy, what he was capable of, and what he'd done ASAP.