Rise of the Shadow Knight

by Light Heart101

A new vision.

My name is Book Knight. I'm a unicorn with a grey coat and a dark blue mane. Yes, I do look dark and mysterious, now stop asking. In spite of my dark looks, everybody will tell you that I'm a bookworm first and a guard second. My cutie mark is a book with a knight's helmet on it. At first, I thought it meant that I'd become a librarian, but I think fate had other plans for me.

My dad used to be a security guard in Fillicy, but he decided to move us to Ponyville for a slower pace. About a year before that he was working at a construction site. The workers there were cutting corners on safety regulations and had my dad there to keep any kids out of there. When I came home to find out that a pile of wood boards fell on him I was crushed... I didn't mean the pun! Stop laughing!

My dad lived, but he was never able to do the hard work he used to do. I had always loved my dad, and I wanted to pick up where he left off. My cutie mark wasn't talking about books, but my determination to study and work hard for my goals.

I spent years studying and preparing myself for my future. My first goal was to pass the training for a royal guard. Now any of you who make it out to be a major task has not met the royal guard. The fact that I placed as high as I did only accounted for the facts that I put all of my time and effort into it and the fact that nopony else did. I was second in my class, only passed by some guy named Shining Armor.

Now I'm breezing through a lot of this to get to one of the first major choices of my life.

After our graduation, Shining and I were called to the throne room by Princess Celestia. It was my first appearance in front of royalty. She spoke with respect and authority. "I've heard many great things about you two. From the leadership and powerful magic from Shining to the cunning and skill from Book. I'm proud of both of you and what you've accomplished."

We both bowed in respect as Shining spoke. "Thank you, your highness. May we ask why you have called us?"

She nodded. "Recently I've had a few of my captains retire. When I was looking for replacements I wanted to see what the new blood had to offer. I had a hard time choosing from a leader and a tactician so I've decided to promote both of you. I want you two to lead the royal guard together if you are willing."

Now the fact that she picked two green students with no experience tells you how good the guard was at the time.

I had to scoff a bit as Shining's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. He stumbled over his words as he spoke to her. "Well... I didn't dream... Uh... I... Of course your highness."

Now I know that captains get a pretty easy job and the pay is great, but I didn't want that. I bowed again as I broke the bad news. "As gracious as your offer is, I'll have to decline."

It was at that point that a lot of ponies that were in the room looked at me like I was an idiot. Celestia looked confused, but she didn't seem disappointed. "I see, do you mind explaining why?"

"I only came here for the training. My family lives in Ponyville and I've noticed something there. There are no guardians of justice there. As peaceful as it is, how can I guard a place with many that protect it when there's nopony to protect my own family? I would like your permission to be the pony who keeps the peace there."

Yes, I did rehearse that several times before showing up that day. Celestia actually looked impressed after I spoke. "Alright. You'll need some more training in order to be recognized as a full officer there, but I'll help you see it happen. Your wish is granted, guardian of Ponyville."

---

Now I need to admit something before I continue, I had another reason for not wanting to be a captain. I don't trust other ponies to have my back. I hate the idea of some other pony messing up and leaving me hanging out to dry. I like working alone, where I can have complete control.

Now I know I'm covering a lot of ground, but that's so we can get to where things really started.

I had gotten my training so I can fulfill all of the duties of Ponyville's officer, which is the equivalent of being the cop, detective, and occasionally a monster fighter. Some ponies would call that a workload, but there's not a lot of crime and we don't have a lot of the petty laws that the other cities have. Then Twilight and her friends took the spotlight.

I'm not mad at them for saving Luna or for anything they've done for Equestria (Because I truly believe that they were the only ponies who could have dealt with Discord.), but my job became even more pointless than it already was. My dream at the time was that Flim and Flam would show up so I could finally arrest them for fraud.

My job was slow and uneventful for years. It became me hanging around town to pass the time. However, sometime after Twilight's second trip to the mirror world (and long before I've learned of it), things started to get interesting.

I was on patrol, which is the equivalent of just strolling around town when I ran into Twilight Sparkle. She's one of the only ponies in town that I'm friends with, due to the fact that I'm always borrowing books. Now if only I can read through some of them.

She was going through a bag of comics that seemed odd to me. There were strange creatures on them that I've never seen before. I like trying to learn about new creatures, so I had to ask her about it. "Hello, Twilight. I see you've got some more... books?"

Twilight turned to me with a shocked expression. "Oh! They were just from a friend. It's not exactly... educational material. They're comic books about some weird superhero."

I chuckled a bit. "Let me guess, another superpowered pony who's the bight and shining example of Equestria?"

"Actually, he's one of the gloomiest heroes I've seen, but one of the more, unique ones. He's one of the only heroes without powers. He uses pure skill and intimidation to fight criminals. Even the most powerful villains fear him. I'm not a big fan of his comics tho."

I decided to take a closer look at the comic. This creature was clothed in a black costume that resembled a bat in some ways. Hearing about his lack of powers and his abilities lit a bit of curiosity in me. Something about that description was enticing.

Now I've been borrowing books from her for a long time, so I saw no fault in asking for another one. "Hey... do you think I can take a look at those? I know it's not my genre, but this one actually sounds interesting."

Twilight actually bit her lip. It was like she was questioning if I should even know that they existed. "Well... I guess I can trust you. Just have them back by tomorrow. I'm just borrowing these and I'll need them back."

I gave her a small bow as she gave them to me. "Thank you, I'll read them right away."

Now normally when I get a new book I'll just add it to the pile and read it when I can, but since I only had one day with them, I needed to get through it.

As I got off work I went straight home. I lived in a pretty decent house. It was a three bedroom and two bathroom house. I didn't have a lot of stuff. I mainly stuck to what I needed, and also a bunch of bookshelves. I didn't use a lot of the stuff in my kitchen due to me preferring takeout. I never saw the need for having a lot of stuff. Even my basement was pretty much empty.

I immediately went to my office and started to go through the comics that Twilight gave me. Normally I'd say that it's childish and something that Dash would be doing in place of her job, but this comic was too enticing to give up. I grabbed a juice box and settled down for a long read.

Now, this is the part of the story that I want to say how COOL Batman is. He was a pure genius, relying on his gadgets and skills to take down criminals. He never took shortcuts, and always stood by his code. Even the most powerful villains feared him. The thing that I loved the most was the fact he was a mortal man who fought alongside and even against the gods.

I enjoyed every second of those comics. I loved seeing the full extent of his skills and tactics. The more I read, the more I realized that this was the standard to live up to. Forget the pillars of Equestria, Batman was the toughest hero, and something I'd love to become.

As I kept reading I started to think about it. Why couldn't I be like him? I liked working alone, and I was good at my job. Maybe if I could push myself more and get some gear to work with... it could work. I'd be more than some officer, I'd be an idea. I'd be a symbol that criminals would fear. I quickly ran to my window and looked for my brothers.

My eyes fell on my youngest brother, Short Fuze. He had a yellow coat and red and yellow hair with a lit firecracker for a cutie mark. "Hey, Fuze! Where's Light Heart?"

He turned around in shock as he saw me yelling at him. "I don't know right now. Why do you ask?"

"Come in here. I've got something for us to work on!" I yelled.

He looked confused, but whenever one of us boys get bored the others usually come over to help. Light would come up with the crazy ideas, I'd work on the base design, and Fuze would work on the more complicated mechanical aspects. Between the three of us, we've made some crazy stuff, but this would be my personal favorite project.

The second that Fuze walked in I started showing him the comic. I was going over everything that made Batman amazing. I made sure to emphasize all of his gadgets and what they did.

After about an hour of ranting about this Fuze finally interrupted me. "I'm sorry, but did you seriously drag me here just to rant about a comic?"

"No! I want you to help me become this!" I tried to explain as I shoved the comic in his face. "This can make me so much more than just a pony that reports a crime once a month. I can become the thing crime fears. Who wouldn't dream of that?"

"Any pony with a life? Listen, are you sure that you need another reason to tell mom that you're still single?" Fuze asked, looking skeptical.

I had my heart set on this, and there was no way that I wasn't going to let it slip through my hooves. "Fuze... I want this. I want to be the hero this city deserves, even if I'm not the one it needs. This is taking my job to a scale which I've never dreamed of. I want to do this. May you please help me?"

I don't know if he was just humoring me, or wanted to see me begging him to help, but he looked like he was at a point to where he'd consider helping me. "Well, I doubt you'd be allowed to completely be like Batman. For the first thing, I saw a thing on this called copywrite law, and that tells me that you want to work around that. The second thing is that a pony dressed like a bat tends to look like a thestrial. You need a different look and name."

That was the thing that I hadn't put much thought into. He had a few good points that I hadn't thought about yet. I had to think about simplifying it for what we knew how to make. "Well, I guess we could use a hood to mix it up and use a mask to cover my mouth. We could also use the helmet on my cutie mark as my symbol. All I'd need is a name... and a pile of tech, but that's the easy part."

I had to sit down and think more about the name. As Fuze and I were trying to shoot ideas out my autistic brother walked in. Now keep in mind that this was before he got the wings, but he was still goofy. He grinned a bit as he walked in, looking like he was going to give one of his dumb jokes. "Hey Book! I didn't see you around town, so I assumed you were lurking in the shadows, looking for any jaywalkers."

Jaywalking is a crime in Manehatten, but not in a small town like this. As I was starting to roll my eyes at Light some of his words stuck out. He described me as one who lurked in the shadows, finding those who hid from justice. If you throw out the joke about jaywalking, it was a good summary of what I wanted to be. If I could mix that with my own name... that would be my new identity.

"That's it! Now I shall be known as the Shadow Knight."

As I said that name it felt right. That was a name that criminals would fear. Fuze grinned at my new title, clearly approving this new name.

Light just looked confused as he had no context whatsoever. "Uh... did I miss something?"

Comments

[Alfaridwan Setiabudi]

Omg more please

[Mornings Dew]

I like it!

[red reaper]

9707318
If you like it, check Light Heart other stories in Equestria's warriors about the Shadow knight in Equestria girls Canterlot Guild

[Mornings Dew]

9714010
I didn't realize there was more. Thank you!

[FirewaspRambo]

I spent years studying and preparing myself for my future.

Future Vault-Tec Rep right here.