It was a very busy night in the city of Baltimare. It was very rainy and cold throughout the city and ponies were gathering for the big holiday coming up in the next few days despite the inclement weather. However, this is the one time of year where crime is through the roof and many criminals are able to get away with their crimes. For example, one just robbed the store when everyone left and held the store clerk at gunpoint. Another one did slashing of tires. But the worst one was a small gang that was always known for getting into trouble.

They would do graffiti on public buildings, they would smash windows, and they would loot stores. After they would finish, they would run out into the streets, but when they saw the Moon in the sky, it would create fear. They would stare at the shadows in the dark alleyways and believe he was standing there. Caleb or known as Knuckles. They would get so scared that they would start backing away and they would get hit by the horse taxis. After getting yelled at, they would run away as fast as they could and seek shelter somewhere. Even if they dropped something, they would just leave it because they were afraid he would use it to his advantage.

They believed he was hiding in the shadows, but he was really part of the shadows. The train came to a full stop and one of the passengers got off to go home. He saw this group with makeup on earlier being very rowdy on the train and laughed as they did their crimes throughout the city. So, this pony got up and stood at the door as he wanted nothing to do with this whatsoever. However, the gang caught on to this and decided to ambush the guy when he got off the train. The pony saw this and after standing in shock for a few moments, he started running.

The gang took that as a challenge and started chasing after him. They eventually got him cornered and they dragged him over to the back of the wall. The pony screamed for help, but that didn't really do anything. The gang leader presented him to the recruit and the recruit noticed the Moon in the sky. The gang leader brought him over and commanded him to knock this pony out. The recruit was about to do it, but they all stopped when they heard a very loud noise behind them. They stared into the shadows and the leader pulled out his sword.

Knuckles stepped out and the entire gang just laughed at him as if he was stupid or something. Knuckles' eyes glowed red for a second and had a slight smile on his face. When he stopped, he glared at all of the gang members. The gang leader asked him who the heck he was supposed to be and Knuckles ignored him. The two stepped forward towards each other and stopped a few feet in front of each other. The leader asked "Are you trying to be the tough guy? Huh?! Because I don't see it from a guy like you whatever the [BLEEP] you're supposed to be."

The rest of the gang laughed along with it and Knuckles simply hardened his gaze. He said "It's none of your gosh darn business whoever the heck I am. I eat criminals for a midnight snack, not to come chat with them over some tea and biscuits." The gang winced at the burn he just did and the leader got mad at Knuckles' remark. This guy really had the nerve to show up in here and insult him like that in front of everyone. He said "So now you're a comedian?! HA! I've never seen a bigger loser in my life. You're gonna pay for that."

"You don't want to do this, dude. You're gonna regret it." Knuckles said as he watched the gang leader pull out his sword.

"I don't care, man! If you're so tough, show me what you got. Quit talking smack and fight me like a real stallion!"

"Fine, have it your way." Knuckles said. He balled up his fists and charged up his red lightning. The gang leader went for the first hit, but Knuckles dodged it and threw punches in every part of the gang leader's body. He headbutted the gang leader and knocked the sword out from his possession. He slammed him to the ground and landed the knockout punch to the leader's face. He glared at the leader and said "I told you not to mess with me, you annoying little prick. But dumb criminals like you never listen, do you?! You think you're the best criminal out there until you get your ass whooped by an alien human who lived in a city full of crime."

"W-who ar-are yo-you?" The gang leader asked, dripping with fear.

Knuckles just smiled and said "You can just call me Knuckles. I've seen this kind of thing happen many times throughout my lifetime, but they all keep making the same dumb mistake over and over again. Do you know what that is?" He gave a very creepy smile and the leader shook his head no in fear. Knuckles took that as a sign to continue. "They are always afraid of the shadows. Anytime a criminal sees that, they think I am there. I know I can't be everywhere at once, but they don't know where I am. Maybe if you paid more attention in school, you'd figure that out by now. Oh, and by the way, I'm vengeance." He reared up his fist and punched him one more time, which knocked the gang leader unconscious.

He stared at the rest of the gang and they all started whispering amongst themselves as they now knew who this guy was. They all charged towards him and Knuckles began fighting them off. He punched multiple guys in the face and tossed them away. When they tried to come down low, he would simply kick them with his feet and punch them in the face. One wrapped himself around Knuckles, but Knuckles side punched him with his arm and freed himself. He picked him up and body slammed him to the ground. He then picked him up again and spun him around in a circle as a tool to knock out the other gang members. After he was done spinning around the pony, he threw him once again and the guy crashed behind the wall while breaking the glass at the same time.

Knuckles sighed heavily to catch his breath and said "You all wanted to get crazy?! Well, you got crazy." He yelled out his battle cry and slammed his fist into the ground, which created a red shockwave across the station and sent everyone flying away. The ones that remained took off and Knuckles watched them leave. "Ahh. My favorite technique. Man, I love doing that one." After a few seconds, he looked at the pony that originally got jumped by the gang and the pony was trembling in fear.

"Pl-please d-don't hurt me!" He said as he watched Knuckles inch closer to him.

Knuckles stopped a few feet from him and said "Get out of here, dude. It's not safe out here. Always watch your back for criminals and never let them take you alive or dead." The pony got up and ran out as fast as he could.

Knuckles stared into space for a few seconds before leaving the train station. He hopped into his version of the Batmobile and took off into the sky. So, this was his personal vehicle he would take all the time whenever he was out. It had everything he needed in there. It had an infotainment screen in the center, navigation, radar to track enemies, machine guns, turrets, cupholders, heated and cooled seats, massaging seats, and last but certainly not least, his personal music playlist. He picked out a song and pressed play.

"Oh yeah! My favorite! The perfect song to finish off a great fight. I definitely have to turn this one up." Knuckles said as he heard the song Monster from Skillet being played. He turned up the volume and started to jam out a little bit. You see, he loved listening to rock music and Skillet was his favorite rock band to listen to on a daily basis. It helped him get through most of his life and it was encouraging for him whenever he felt down. He turned up the jet thrusters and he whisked through the city as fast as he could.

Flying past skyscrapers and going under the giant bridge that was right there. It created a wave of water behind him as the vehicle touched the water and he headed back to his place of residence: Brody Manor on Brody Island. Yeah, he had a small little island that was in Horseshoe Bay, but it was closer to Hayseed Swamp since he didn't want all of the attention living in the city. However, he could still see the city of Baltimare very easily and view all of downtown from his mansion. He was originally from the city of Baltimore, but when he came here, he noticed that there was a city similar to his hometown, so he moved there as soon as he could.

Unfortunately, he also noticed that this city had a similar crime rate as his hometown and that made him annoyed. But, it gave him an excuse to fight off crime during the night and terrify criminals just by him hiding in the shadows. However, it was now day time and he had to go home. He saw the pretty sunlight and an automated voice asked for the password. He said with enthusiasm "Criminals suck!" The computer thanked him and some buoys sprayed some smoke on the vehicle to cover it up from prying eyes. He opened the door and flew in between the caverns that resided underneath the island. He sped through the tunnel and pressed another button to open the hatch doors. He slowed down the vehicle and it came to a stop. He turned off the vehicle by pressing the engine start stop button and jumped out.

"Hey Vader, I'm home!" He said proudly as his voice echoed throughout the caverns. It was sort of awkward, but Knuckles could care less.

"Welcome home, sir. Initializing Knucklecave operating system." The bridge started connecting the pieces together and Knuckles just walked across.

"Hey Vader!" Knuckles shouted as he wanted its attention.

"What's up, Knuckles?" The computer asked with curiosity.

"Put this sword in the museum in for me, will ya?" Knuckles said as he pulled out the sword dropped on the ground from the gang leader at the train station.

"Certainly, sir." The computer said as it took it from his hands and put it up in his collection of stuff in his trophy room.

Knuckles said thank you and the computer said it was no problem. "Anything exciting happen while I was gone?" Knuckles asked to see if there was anything new that had happened while he was out fighting crime.

"You have four pieces of mail, sir." The computer said, letting him know that was how much mail he received.

"Great, what did I get?" He asked with curiosity as he wanted to know what kind of mail he received. He usually didn't get much mail because of being on a remote island, but when he did get mail, it made him curious to see what he would get.

"You have this weeks Bitsaver, two bills, and a coupon for Sofas and Quills. It is supposed to expire in two weeks. But I've heard that some stores will honor them past the expiration date." The computer stated, letting Knuckles know the contents of his mail that he received.

"Copy that." Knuckles said as he received the information that his computer was telling him.

"Also, Reginald is on the 17th floor, grouting tiles in the second bathroom of the fifth master bedroom. Do you want me to tell Reginald that you are home?" The computer asked with curiosity.

"No, that's cool, Vader. Thanks for the update. I should probably have some dinner." Knuckles said as he started to get hungry. He took off his outfit and hopped into his bathrobe that he wore around the house when he wasn't going anywhere.

"Reginald left your shrimp in the fridge." The computer informed him as it heard him speak about food.

"Oh, my favorite. I can't wait." He headed over to the elevator and pressed the button that would lead him towards the kitchen. The doors closed and he traveled up the elevator. After about 30 seconds, the doors opened again and Knuckles walked out. He opened the doors to the kitchen and went over to the fridge. He grabbed his shrimp and put it on a plate. He went over to the microwave and put it inside. He accidentally set the timer to 20 minutes and he realized his mistake.

"Oh, not 20 minutes. Stupid." He said as he attempted to fix it and put it on for two minutes. He pressed start and watched the food spin around in the microwave aimlessly. He sighed and started to click his tongue rhythmically as he was waiting for his food to be done in the microwave. Once it finished, he took it out and went back down to his mancave. He sat down in one of the boats he made and began eating away at his food. He thought it was quite tasty and it was the best alternative to meat since he kind of figured that this world didn't take too kindly to meat eaters. So, he thought it would be good to stick with seafood so no one could complain.

Of course, his butler was a little disgusted by it, but he understood that Knuckles needed to eat some sort of protein, so he went out of his way to get that for him, despite his own personal feelings for it. Knuckles put his plate away and he pulled out his guitar. One of his favorite hobbies was to play the electric guitar and he had a special V type that his grandparents gave him when he was young. He made sure to keep it in mint condition and it has been with him all of these years. He plugged in his amp and figured it was time to play a song.

He played very hard at this song and sung with passion. No one was around to tell him that he couldn't do this, so he did it to his heart's content. He even snapped his fingers to get extra instruments playing in the background so it could sound like an actual song and not just a guitar solo, even though that was pretty cool and he loved doing that. After he was done with that, he took his plate with him and put it in the sink in the kitchen. He washed it off and put it in the dishwasher. He walked down the hallway and went over to the theater room he had. He sat down in the front row and turned on the projector.

He pressed a button on the remote to reveal loudspeakers for that optimum sound quality and he scrolled down the source inputs. He selected HDMI 2 and the screen told him that there was no signal and the device was not detected. He said "Oh, wait. There, which is, uh... okay." He fumbled around a little bit and selected HDMI 3. He finally got a movie playing on the screen and began watching it. He was watching Jerry Maguire and picked up at the scene where Tom Cruise was staring at his wife. He turned it up to max volume and popped the popcorn in his mouth. He heard Cruise say "You complete me" and he laughed at that remark because of how funny it sounded to him.

He heard Renee Zellweger sniffle at those words and say "Shut up. You had me at hello." Knuckles just chuckled at that and said "Love it!" He looked around and sighed sadly as he noticed no one else was with him. He popped the popcorn in his mouth and continued to watch the movie. Once he was done, he came out into the living room and went over to the portraits on the wall. He saw the big picture of himself and his little brother together and stared at it sadly.

He said "Hey, David. I, uh... I stopped some more street criminals today. I wish you could have seen me. I think you would have been really proud." He felt guilt and attempted to walk away.

"There you are!" a new voice said. Knuckles was surprised at the voice and punched the dude away as part of natural instinct. Plus, he had really good reflexes. After a few seconds, he noticed it was just Reginald and felt embarrassed for doing that.

Reginald crashed underneath the piano and Knuckles said apologetically "Oh, Reginald! I'm so sorry! I have incredible reflexes." He rushed over to help his butler, but Reginald was able to get out just fine.

He said "No, it's all my fault, sir. I should have known better than to sneak up on you like that." He did have a habit for doing that and sometimes, he would pay the consequences for doing so because he was coming into contact with a supernatural human being who could knock anyone out with one punch.

Knuckles kicked the plate remorsefully and said "Sorry, I was just lost in thought, and as you know, when I'm in there, I'm in deep." Often times, whenever he is lost in thought, his mind wanders off and begins to think things that his mind tries to bury. But, sometimes he can't help it.

Reginald put the items back on the plate and asked "Were you looking at the old family pictures again?"

Knuckles pretended to act stupid and said "At the what? The old family... Oh, yes! I see what you mean. Look at that! The old gang. Yeah. No, I wasn't."

Reginald picked up on the denial and said "I see. Sir, if you don't mind my saying, I'm a little concerned. I've seen you go through similar phases in the last five years and it's getting more noticeable as time went on. Do you want to talk about how you're feeling right now?"

Knuckles had a glare on his face and told Reginald "I don't talk about feelings, Reginald. I don't have any, I've never seen one. I'm a night-stalking, crime-fighting vigilante, and a rock metal rapping machine. I don't feel anything emotionally, except for rage. 24/7, 365, at a million percent. And if you think that there's something behind that, then you're crazy. Good night, Reginald." For Knuckles, the last thing he wanted to talk about was his feelings. He had experienced so much trauma in his past that it would even make The Rock start crying.

He didn't want to talk about it then, and he definitely didn't want to talk about it now. Reginald stared at him blankly and said "Sir, it's morning." He pressed the button on the remote and the curtains opened up to reveal the Sunlight. Knuckles shielded his eyes and hissed at the bright light. Reginald said "Master Caleb, you live on an island, figuratively and literally."

Knuckles could care less about that and said with enthusiasm "Yeah, I love it." He didn't want anything to do with the city life at all, so he had this giant mansion 20 miles away from downtown Baltimare so that he could live in peace without any disturbances whatsoever.

Reginald shook his head and said "You can't spend the rest of your life alone, dressed in black, listening to angry music, and staying up all night. It's not healthy for you sir, and I'm worried that if this continues, your health will start to decline."

Knuckles denied that and said "Yes, I can, 'cause I'm Knuckles!" He pulled out his projectiles and got into a defensive stance to show off. This was his lifestyle and he couldn't have his butler tell him that he couldn't do this. If he stopped doing that, then he wouldn't be himself anymore. He would be this lovey-dopy, touchy-feely, soft wimp and the thought disgusted him. He was in that phase once and that didn't turn out well for him.

Reginald looked at him with concern and asked "But don't you think it's time you finally faced your greatest fear?" Knuckles didn't like the sound of that and he started asking which ones it was. However, Reginald kept saying those were not it and finally said "Caleb, listen. Your greatest fear is being a part of a family again." He pointed towards the family portrait and Knuckles stared with worry.

Knuckles denied it again and said "Nope, now it's snake clowns, because you put that idea in my head." Reginald attempted to talk once again, but Knuckles ignored him. He got down on the floor and started to do push-ups. He said "Time for push-ups! One, two... We're going to 1,000."

Reginald looked at him like he was ridiculous and said "I'm afraid that's not possible, sir."

Knuckles denied it and said "It is possible. I'm already at 20." He didn't care what his butler said. He did 1,000 push-ups before and he'll do it again. Doing this will help keep him at full strength all the time and be prepared for any bad guys that try to fight him.

Reginald looked at him and said "Sir, you're scheduled to go out and venture into the city."

Knuckles stopped what he was doing and said with anger "What?! No! I don't wanna do that!" He just wanted to go to his office and now his butler wanted him to go out into that city to socialize?! Absolutely not. Never in a million years. The last time he socialized with anyone, someone close to him got killed. So, he was not going to do that no matter how hard his butler tries to get him to do it.

Reginald didn't care and said "You're going to have a great time! You might meet some new ponies! You could even make some new friends." As he was saying that, Knuckles was saying no the entire time and rolling around on the floor in defiance. The last thing he was going to do was to socialize with a bunch of strangers in one of the biggest cities in the world and one that had the highest crime rate.

Knuckles glared at him and said "Look, Reginald. I appreciate you trying to do this for me, but I don't have time for this right now. I am currently on a quest to find the Master Diamond and I don't need to be wasting it spending time with a bunch of strangers in the most crime ridden city in Equestria. I just can't do that right now."

Reginald looked at him and said "But, sir. This could be really important for your mental health and you might even be able to fix it."

Knuckles didn't care and said "I said no, Reginald! My grandparents tried searching for that diamond for years and you know the rest of the story. I have to finish what they started. I didn't need friends then and I certainly do not need them now. I work alone and I prefer to keep it that way. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go up to my office space to see if I can find any clues on the location of the Master Diamond."

He turned around and headed up the stairs towards his office. Reginald sighed and said "If only you could see how alone you truly were, sir." Knuckles marched down the hallway and opened the doors to his office. He shut the doors and sat down in his office chair. He sighed heavily and leaned back into the chair.

"Darn Reginald. What was he thinking telling me that this could be "important for my mental health?" He should know better than to say something stupid like that after all of the tragic heartbreak I have suffered over the years. *sighs* It doesn't matter now. I just need to find the clues on the location to the Master Diamond and then I can rest here in my glorious mansion for the rest of my life. Now, where did I put that map? Hmm. A-ha! There it is!"

He grabbed the map and set it down on the desk. "Let's see here. Now, I have searched pretty much all of the major cities in Equestria at this point and I've found nothing. I know it's here somewhere, but I'm unsure where. I will find it though, no matter what it takes. And I will take out anyone and anything that gets in my way of finding it. Alright, so if it's not here in Baltimare or in Fillydelphia, Manehattan, Rainbow Falls, The Crystal Empire, Vanhoover, Las Pegasus, Appaloosa, Dodge City, or Canterlot, then where else can I look?" He looked around on the map and his eyes landed on a small town right outside of Canterlot.

He groaned and leaned back even further in the chair. "Not Ponyville. That's the last place I would want to go right now. That place just screams soft, happy, huggy-feely, type garbage and it disgusts me entirely. *sighs* However, this is the only other place in Equestria I have not checked and it could be there somewhere. I'll just have to lay low and hope that no one notices me at all." He really didn't want to do that, but what choice did he have? He was on a quest for the greatest artifact of his lifetime and he would even travel to Ponyville to search for it, even if it meant being surrounded by a bunch of friendship. Yuck! He just cringed at that and shivered in disgust as he thought about it. "I'll set out for Ponyville tomorrow morning and search for the diamond. I can only hope that I'll find it."

He started to put the map away, but he noticed the photo of his grandparents sitting on his desk. He sighed with sadness and stared at it. He said "I'll find it for you guys. I promise I won't let you down. I'll find it and restore our family legacy we once had." He got up and put the map away. He looked at the photo one more time and then closed the door on the way out. He was going to venture to Ponyville tomorrow, but he had to get some sleep first and once he did so, he needed to avoid as much socialization as possible so that he could find this thing. Once he found it, he could claim it as his once more and become something great that most people in his life doubted he could achieve. They may have laughed and mocked him when he was young, but he will get the last laugh in the end. They'll all pay for their mistreatment of him.

Author's Note

AN: Another chapter done! I have a good feeling about this one. This introduces Caleb to the storyline and we get some background context about him without spilling his deepest darkest secrets which will be revealed later on. Something I have noticed is my like to dislike ratio. I'm not sure what is going on, but it does seem suspicious to me. I understand that not everyone will like this story and that's okay, but don't dislike it just because you want to. That leaves a bad impression on me and I don't appreciate it. Of course, that won't stop me from writing chapters, but it is annoying. To those who liked the story and added it to your favorites, thank you. I appreciate your support and people like you is what keeps me going. So no matter how much I get hated from other people, I will continue to write chapters anyway because I know that someone likes it. I didn't want to bring this up, but it's starting to become an issue, so I wanted to address it. Hope you guys understand that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: The Trip to Ponyville! When Caleb discovers that he has to venture off to Ponyville in order to find this important artifact, he is unhappy with it, but willing to go anyways so he could finish what his grandparents started. However, it will be a challenge staying low since this is the hometown of the Mane Six and at least one of them will take notice of him at some point. Will he be able to keep it on the down low and complete his mission, or will he get caught and have to explain why he was even here in the first place?

Until then, my fellow readers