The rest of the journey to the Arkham Knight's lair passed by in relative peace, thought it wasn't too terribly long after his battle with the New Lunar Empire's drone forces that the Arkham Knight turned his vehicle into a dark cave, the entrance of which was littered with overturned minecarts and rusted tracks.

As he approached a solid crystal wall that looked to be the result of a cave-in at break-neck speeds, the Knight pressed a button on his vehicle’s control panel that caused the wall to slide up into the cave ceiling, and reveal a hidden ramp that spiraled upwards. Taking the ramp, the Knight soon drove his vehicle through a waterfall and onto a metal platform before coming to a stop.

“This is it, we’re here,” said Arkham as he opened the cockpit of his ride and let Sunset out of the backseat.

As she got out of her harness and stood up and took a look around at the Arkham Knight’s base of operations, only two words came to mind.

"Ho-ly shit.”

Draped over the cavern walls were blood-red banners bearing the Arkham Knight’s insignia. Overhead spotlight provided illumination to the base while multi-level metal platforms provided the base’s flooring, and Sunset was more than certain that the base was even bigger than what she could see at the moment.

“How in the Hell… did you get all of this equipment and weapons and everything else?” asked Sunset in a hushed whisper.

The Arkham Knight chuckled as he walked up beside Sunset, “Let’s just say I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse. And when I agreed to that offer, the guy who made it went all out on his end of the bargain,” he said before he pressed something on the side of his helmet, causing it to slide up and reveal his face.

Sunset did a double-take when she saw the Arkham Knight unmasked. He was a human man around her age with jet-black hair, icy blue eyes, and what looked like some kind of brand that had been burned into his skin just under his left eye in the shape of the letter J.

“In any case, now that we’re in the safety of The Armory, we can finally be properly introduced,” said the unmasked Knight, his voice sounding far different from the voice his mask gave him. “My name is Jason Todd, and welcome to my home,” he said, holding out his hand.

Very, very carefully, Sunset took Jason’s hand. “Heh, I get it. J for Jason,” she said, pointing at the scar on Jason’s face with her free hand.

“Actually… it’s J for Joker," revealed Jason, bitterness in his voice.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “‘Joker?’ Who’s ‘Joker?’” she asked the armor clad being.

“No one you’d ever want to meet. Truth be told, I don’t like talking about how I got my scar. So, how about I give you a tour of this place instead?” said Jason.

“Um… okay,” said Sunset, following Jason as he walked towards a corridor.

“So, the room we’re in right now is the Hangar Bay. Right now, all we have in means of rides is the Arkham-Mobile, but I’m working on different modes of transportation,” explained Jason.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “‘The Arkham-Mobile?’ That’s the best name you could come up with for that tank you drive?” she asked.

“Well, I was going to call it the Knight-Rider, but that name was already taken,” explained Jason as he led Sunset past various rooms, which he pointed out as they passed by.

“That’s the Medical Bay on the right there, the Augmented Reality Training Facility is across the hall on the left,” said Jason, pointing at two solid steel doors with what Sunset recognized as handprint scanners where the doorknobs should be. “I’ll have to add your handprints to the database later.”

“What’s ‘Augmented Reality?’” asked Sunset.

“I believe the more common term is ‘Virtual Reality,’” explained Jason. “Anyways, coming up here on the right is the Equipment Room, where I keep all of my guns, gadgets, and other types of weaponry, and on the left is the Living Quarters, which I might add is where you’ll be staying, and dead ahead here would be the Computer Room.Thankfully, we don’t get crocodiles in here very often, if ever.”

“What do you mean, ‘crocodiles?’” asked Sunset as Jason placed his hand on the scanner.

“Eh, it’s nothing, just something from back home,” said Jason as the scanner finished reading his handprint and the door swung open, allowing them to enter.

As Sunset looked around the Computer Room, she once again found herself wondering just how exactly someone could get all of this stuff in here without getting caught. Dominating the room was a MASSIVE supercomputer with multiple screens, each displaying the Arkham Knight’s insignia and a set of chairs stationed around it.

“Take a seat,” said Jason, pulling out a couple of chairs. “So, start talking. What’s going on here? Why is it dark when it should be broad daylight?”

Sunset sat down in one of the chairs before answering. “So... you don’t know about Nightmare Moon and her takeover of Equestria?”

Sunset waited for a response, but she took Jason’s silence as a response enough to continue. “Well... It all started six years ago, when Nightmare Moon had returned from a thousand years of being imprisoned within the moon and defeated her sister, Celestia, stripping her of her magic and banishing her to the moon, taking her entire kingdom for herself," Sunset explained.

“Sounds to me like this Nightmare Moon wanted revenge against Celestia… so, why did this Nightmare Moon want to defeat Celestia?” Jason asked.

“Well, if I understand the legends right, it happened a very, very long time ago.” Sunset replied, “Back when Nightmare Moon was still Celestia’s sister, Luna. Luna would raise the moon while Celestia raised the sun. One day, Luna began feeling jealous of Celestia, and how everyone loved the daytime that Celestia gave to us all, while we merely shunned and slept through Luna’s night.”

“Sooo.... how did they do all that? You said this ‘Luna’ raises the moon, while her sister raised the sun? How the Hell is that possible?” Jason asked.

“They do it through magic.” Sunset responded as easily as you pleased.

“Ah. Of course. Magic. The get out of jail free card. Carry on," Jason sighed, prompting Sunset to look at Jason with confusion before continuing her story.

“After Nightmare Moon banished her sister, she renamed Equestria the New Lunar Empire and built a very strong grip on the land and its people, to put it lightly, and created her own army to hunt down, capture, and ultimately execute any and all that still supported Celestia," Sunset explained

“So... this army of hers... that was who I fought. Those soldiers and drones commanded by that rainbow-haired chick. So I take it you’re someone who still supports Celestia?” Jason said.

“Well… yes. But they were also chasing me for another reason.” Sunset revealed.

A moment of silence fell into the room before Jason coughed and spoke. “Soooo... are you going to tell me what that other reason is?”

“Oh, right. Sorry. Well... they were chasing me because I’m guilty by association with a very wanted Celestia supporter, named Twilight Sparkle. She used to work at Eclipse Labs working on genetically adapting crops so that they’d grow in the moonlight. But, this message she left me says otherwise,” said Sunset, fishing her cell phone out of her pocket, only to discover that it was badly damaged. “Dammit. It must’ve gotten wrecked during the chase.”

“Give it here,” said Jason.

Sunset handed her phone to Jason, who promptly began dismantling the device until he found the component he needed, which he placed into a slot on his supercomputer. Jason turned towards the supercomputer and began typing in commands until the right box of text and coding gibberish appeared on the screen. “Show all recent calls and messages from Twilight Sparkle,” he said, causing another box to appear. “Voicemail or text?” Jason asked Sunset.

“Um… voicemail,” said Sunset.

“Okie-doke. Play the most recent voicemail," said Jason.

A moment later, a frightened female voice boomed over the computer’s speakers. “Sunset, it’s me, Twilight. I know we’re both already in hot water as it is, given our beliefs, but now… well, let’s just say the water I’m in is boiling now. You know how the Imperial Government contracted us to work on adapting crops to survive in moonlight? The humanitarian thing? Well, it turns out, that’s just a front. All the work I’ve put into allowing this desolate world a better chance for survival, all for nothing. Here’s what’s really going on. Yesterday, I was outside Dr. Eclipse’s office and I heard him and Nightmare Moon talking about something… terrible. Sunset, they’re experimenting on innocent people to turn into Nightmare Moon’s supersoldiers! They also talked about something called ‘Project Tantabus-’”

A loud crash was heard in the background, followed by a second voice, one both Jason and Sunset recognized as Rainbow’s, bellowed, “Don’t move, sun-loving scum! Take her!”

The shout was followed by sounds of a struggle before the line went dead. Jason stood up and stretched. “Well, that tears it. That absolutely tears it. Nightmare Moon must be taken down,” he said.

“And… how are you going to go about doing that?” asked Sunset, raising an eyebrow.

Jason pressed the button on his mask, causing it to slide over his face again. “What I’m going to do is add your handprints to the database. After that, I’m not going to do a thing,” said the Arkham Knight. “What WE are going to do, though, is get you trained up in the AR Room, then we’re going to find out where this Twilight Sparkle is, rescue her, and find out what she knows about these experiments and this ‘Project Tantabus’ and then we’re going to destroy Eclipse Labs and shut whatever it is that Nightmare Moon is cooking up there down. After that, we’re going to recruit anyone and everyone we can to build an army."

“And assuming we’ve done all that without getting ourselves killed?” asked Sunset with a smirk on her face.

“Then, it’s time to go to war.”

Inside the Everfree Forest on the outskirts of Moonlight City, the capital of the New Lunar Empire, stood a dark, yet magnificent castle. Over a thousand years ago, this castle had been known as “The Castle of The Two Sisters.” Following the clash between the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon, the castle had been all but destroyed, and had remained that way for over a thousand years until Nightmare Moon’s triumphant return and takeover. Now, fully rebuilt and redesigned to fit its new occupants tastes, the castle was now called simply “Nightmare Castle.”

And it was this castle that Captain Rainbow Dash approached. After her credentials were checked and the castle guards saluted her, Rainbow entered the castle and followed its dark and twisted corridors, taking great care to avoid the traps that had once been placed there as mere practical jokes, but now had far more lethal improvements like spikes at the bottom of the pits, and those massive blade pendulum thingies in the hallways.

Finally, Rainbow arrived at the throne room and approached the imposing and powerfully built black-winged woman with pale skin, teal snake-like eyes, fangs, and smoke-like dark blue hair clad in black and dark blue battle armor complete with a helmet, a long black cape with a high collar, and a rapier at her side and kneeled before her.

“My queen… we have a serious problem brewing in our midst. I was unable to kill Sunset Shimmer,” said Rainbow.

“Is catching a simple Spellcaster beyond even your talents, Captain Dash?” asked Nightmare Moon, malice in her voice alongside a hint of amusement.

“No, of course it isn’t. I actually had her dead to rights, trapped with nowhere to run. But, before I could pull the trigger… someone or something intervened and shot the gun out of my hand,” explained Rainbow.

“Oh? And who, pray tell, was it that intervened?” asked Nightmare Moon, mildly interested.

Rainbow sighed. “He calls himself ‘The Arkham Knight.’ His hand-to-hand combat skills are exceptional, probably almost as good as yours, and his gunplay is astounding. He took out most of the troops I’d brought with me to catch Shimmer. I called for backup, but then… things only got crazier,” she explained.

“How so?” asked Nightmare.

“Out of nowhere this car-tank thing showed up and blasted the crap out of my reinforcements and forced me to take cover. The technology this guy has, it’s… unbelievable.”

Nightmare Moon seemed thoughtful for a moment. “I hope you don’t mind if I check the validity of your statements,” she said, raising an armored hand. “I suggest you hold still.”

On that note, Nightmare Moon’s eyes turned a shadowy black color as Rainbow screamed in pain, for it felt like her memories were being ripped out of her brain, which, in a way, they were. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Nightmare Moon’s eyes stopped glowing and Rainbow collapsed, gasping for breath.

Nightmare Moon pondered over the memories she’d just obtained from Captain Dash. This mysterious Arkham Knight character was greatly skilled, powerful, and provided he could be persuaded to serve her, he could be an invaluable ally with the resources he had. “Get Rarity, Pinkamena, and Starlight in here. We must find this so-called Arkham Knight and convince him to join us. If he cannot be persuaded, then we must destroy him. Am I making myself clear?” said Nightmare Moon.

“Y...yes, your majesty…” gasped Rainbow.

“Good, then get going," Nightmare commanded with a wave of her hand.

Rainbow slowly and painfully got up off the floor and set out to do her task. As the throne room doors shut behind Rainbow, a second voice, seemingly from the back of Nightmare Moon’s own mind, spoke up.

“What makes you so sure that this Arkham Knight can even be killed, should he refuse to join you?” the voice asked.

Nightmare Moon growled. “Show yourself, Luna!” she snarled.

Then, as if on cue, a figure emerged from the shadows, one that looked identical to Nightmare Moon. Except, her hair looked long and elegant, almost as if she were wearing the night sky itself. She also lacked Nightmare Moon vertical pupils and fangs. Additionally, she was not dressed the same. While Nightmare Moon wore battle armor, this one wore clothes one would expect from someone of royal blood. She wore a long, flowing dress that was designed after the night sky, complete with countless stars dotting along it. It, like her hair, rippled gently in the breeze from a nearby open window, giving the figure an almost ghost-like appearance… which, to all intents and purposes, she was. Nothing more than a hallucination created by a part of Nightmare Moon that she couldn’t really destroy, nor could it destroy her… not to say that neither of them didn’t try.

Princess Luna walked from the shadows, but she wasn’t looking at the Nightmare Moon, instead she was gazing at the night sky.

“I never thought that any of this could happen from my own jealousy. People starving, dying, tortured, used as lab rats, and God knows how many other unspeakable things you’ve done, all because I wanted the night to be appreciated for what it truly was. I never thought my own jealousy could create a monster like you,” the true Lunar Princess said, her sorrowful gaze directed at the moon where she and the murderous tyrant that she had become had spent 1,000 years… where her own sister was now trapped, powerless and without any hope of escape.

Nightmare Moon gave a short laugh. “Monster? I? You forget, Luna, no one showed any gratitude for the night we slaved away over week after week, month after month, year after year, century after century. I did what you could never do, what you were too weak to do! I defeated Celestia and put an end to her daylight. Now they have no choice but to love the night, or else pay the price.”

“And look what’s become of it!” snapped Luna, her voice echoing throughout Nightmare Moon’s mind.

“Everyone appreciates the night, the beauty it has given the world.” Nightmare Moon responded, growing more impatient with Luna the more she continued.

“Yes. And look at the early years. The terror. The night is beautiful, but in my jealousy I had clearly not seen the little bumps in my wish to be as beloved as my sister had been," Luna said, turning to face Nightmare, “Crops dying from the lack of my sister’s sun, causing animals and people alike to all starve.”

“But look now, we’re prospering," replied Nightmare Moon.

“After years of death and suffering. The crops dying weren’t the only thing that caused ponies to die, there were also the riots from those who still support my sister," Luna replied.

“The sun worshipers? They may have been a threat before, but that is history. Now, everybody is happy. The time of rioting and death is something of the past," Nightmare said dismissively.

“Yes, yes it is. And now is the time of silent raids and assassinations. Like with Sunset Shimmer," Luna countered.

Nightmare Moon growled softly, not being particularly fond of being reminded of one of her supposed best soldier and the leader of her armed forces' failed operation. “We were caught off guard by this Arkham Knight’s appearance. It will not happen again.”

Luna looked to Nightmare Moon, her face slowly growing confused as she could practically see a light bulb turn on inside of Nightmare’s eyes.

“And I know just how to do it.” Nightmare said, grinning with malice as she walked over to a nearby table, picking up a small object that Luna recognized as her old phone, and began typing.

“Who are you calling?” Luna asked.

“I have several amazing soldiers, but I have one that I’ve used only on certain occasions, one that can take out this ‘Arkham Knight’ character. But if what Rainbow Dash said is true, and he truly does have such advanced technology, then I might need more.”

“More?” Luna asked. “What, are you going to send more soldiers after him? You know how well that turned out.”

“Don’t be foolish Luna, I’ve got a better plan. Something that’ll attract the attention of far more... special... people,” Nightmare Moon said as she turned her attention back to the phone, speaking into it before walking around her desk, picking up a small briefcase.

“What are you planning, Nightmare Moon?” asked Luna.

Nightmare chuckled softly before turning the phone away from her, “Nothing you should concern yourself about Luna, just a bounty or two to welcome our new friend to our beautiful land.” She flashed Luna a malicious grin before moving the phone back to her, walking away from Luna, who wore a face of concern.

“Oh sister... If only I had never tried to change the balance of the days...” she said, her voice heavy with regret.

Author's Note

And thus concludes the second chapter! Man, it is good to be back in the game! If you guys liked what you saw here then be sure to like, fave, follow, and comment! And remember: dying is easy, comedy is hard!