The Moon's Knight (or Luna's Lunatic)

by RustDust

5 - Night-Knight

Night-Knight

It was a starry night in Ponyville. Most shops were closed, though lights illuminated a few windows, mostly reserved to second floors where proprietors would spend their off-hours. The surrounding area was practically devoid of life save for the buzzing bugs, chirping crickets, and flitting fireflies about. Marc preferred it this way. After spending so much time at night in the city, this was a nice reprieve from the bustle of traffic and sound of sirens. Plus, there weren’t any ponies around to gawk at him.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t fix your memory problem, Mark,” Rarity solemnly said to Marc as they walked down the quiet dirt street.

“It’s fine,” Marc responded, distracted by his thoughts. Most of the time spent at the library was during Twilight’s in-depth examination, but he felt he got enough information during the last part of their visit. Not only were the gods of this world’s Sun and Moon accepted as real, but they were also the very rulers of Equestria. It was certainly different from how things worked on Earth. Khonshu was an obscure god known only by teachers, enthusiasts, and fanatics. Very few people still honestly believed, let alone worshipped him. Now Marc found himself in a world where the Moon’s patron deity was a real figure with political power and rule over a nation. Or, rather, she used to. He wasn’t sure what to make of the revelation that this Moon’s numen had fallen from grace, especially since he was supposed to be taking orders from said goddess.

Rarity seemed to take Marc’s silence as unease about his situation. Deciding to try and lighten his mood, she decided to press on with small talk.

“I was surprised to hear that you didn’t know about Princess Celestia. I assumed beings from everywhere on Equus were taught about how the Sun and Moon were raised by her.”

“What about Luna?” Marc brought up to change the subject.

“Oh, um… well not much is talked about her, admittedly. When Princess Luna appeared in town as Nightmare Moon, Twilight was the only pony who actually knew who she was. Apparently, her existence has been understated near to the point of legend these past thousand years.”

“Why? Why would Celestia hide the existence of her own sister from the world?”

“I don’t think she was hiding her existence. Rather, she just… stopped mentioning her completely and over time ponies just forgot. Believe me, I know from my line of work that a pony’s reputation lives and dies on word of mouth. I asked Twilight about this and she told me that Princess Celestia recalled all the books written about Princess Luna after her banishment due to all the denigrating things ponies had written about her. The only records of her left were offhand references in history books, and even then, they never wrote much about her, opting to focus on her sister.”

“…You seem to know a lot about this.”

Rarity stopped walking to look back at Marc and answer.

“Well, I became curious after Nightmare Moon’s return, but also because I’ve always been more of a fan of the sky at night than during the day, even if I don’t get to enjoy it as much. Don’t get me wrong, I love the day Princess Celestia brings as much as the next pony.” She looks up and continues, “but I believe there’s a subtle beauty, elegance, and calmness to the night sky that just doesn’t get as much appreciation as it deserves. I can certainly empathize with Princess Luna’s jealously and indignation, especially during my starting years into the fashion industry. All the work that goes into bringing us this beautiful night sky, and she gets a fraction of the attention her sister gets. A crime against beauty, I say. Doesn’t dismiss the crime of trying to plunge Equestria into total darkness, though,” she added curtly.

The rest of the walk home was done while chatting about the day they had. Apparently, the excitable pink pony, Pinkie Pie, was one of the friends who helped reform Nightmare Moon. Marc had a hard time believing that one.

It was decided that Marc would stay in Rarity’s bedroom for now while she stayed in the room normally reserved for her little sister, Sweetie Belle, who was currently with their parents. Marc didn’t have much say in the matter.

“Seriously, I’m okay with sleeping in the smaller bed. I’d prefer it to kicking you out of your own room,” Marc told Rarity as she led him to her room.

“Absolutely not. There’s no way you could sleep comfortably in Sweetie Belle’s bed with how tall you are. Even my bed is cutting it, but it’s the best I can offer for now,” she said as she opened the door to her bedroom.

“I could just lie down some covers on the floor,” Marc offered, causing Rarity to gasp.

“There is no way a guest of mine is sleeping OR putting my imported, pure linen sheets on the floor,” Rarity said, disgusted with the notion. “Now get some rest, you’re still hurt after all.”

If Marc were being truthful, he’d have told her he was feeling fine. During the walk back to the boutique, Marc could’ve sword he felt his wounds being mended. In fact, Marc felt better than fine. He felt light as a feather and more acutely aware of his surroundings. He hasn’t felt nearly this good at least since his early days as a costumed crime-fighter. But not being able to explain his inexplicable newfound strength, he decided to keep up the act of being injured for now.

“Fine. You win for now,” Marc relented as he sat down on the bed.

“Good. Besides, you’ll need your rest for all the posing you’ll be doing tomorrow. I can’t wait to make you some clothes!”

“What happened to me being injured and getting my rest?

“Oh don’t be such a baby, just think of it as some physical therapy. You wanted to pay me back, right?” Rarity playfully pouted.

“Yeah yeah,” Marc said as he shuffled himself under the covers.

“Goodnight, Mark.”

“…Knight.”

With that, Rarity left her room that she was loaning to Marc to perform her ablutions before bed. After checking over the boutique a final time and locking up she headed to Sweetie Belle’s room, but not before checking up on Marc a final time. She peaked her head into her room he was staying in and saw what must’ve been him underneath the covers. Content, she headed to bed herself.

“You did good, Rarity,” she congratulated herself as she carefully tucked herself under the covers. “Though I must say, there’s something odd about Mark Specter; just what did Pinkie mean? And he said something about… ‘Khonshu,’ I think it was, when he first saw me, didn’t he?” she said followed by a heavy yawn. “Oh well, questions for later.”

Rarity snuggled deeper into her sister’s bed that used to be her own, falling deeper into a slumber. Just as she was drifting off to sleep however, a shadowy figure creeped up to the edge of her bed with a rag in its magical hold.

“…mm… Mark, is that you?” Rarity blearily asked, still groggy.

The intruder thought he knew the answer to that question as he prepared to pounce on Rarity with the chloroformed rag, until he heard a response.

“Yeah, it’s me. But this isn’t,” Marc replied from behind the figure.

Just as the mysterious pony whirled around to face him, Marc turned his body the opposite way into a roundhouse kick to the face, sending the dark figure slamming into the wall. The crash fully roused Rarity, who shrieked before ducking out and behind the bed.

“Aughh, what the…?” the intruder said sitting up and rubbing his damaged jaw with a hoof.

“I was wondering when you’d show up, though I assumed you were after me,” Marc said. “Could smell the chloroform, so you must’ve wanted to wait until she was at least asleep to be sure she’d stay knocked out for whatever you wanted to do. By the way, Rarity, you spend too much time getting gussied up just to go to bed.”

“…Meep,” Rarity squeaked, frightened by the sight in front of her.

Marc could see the pony in front of him was a unicorn, judging by the black horn protruding from his head, but the rest of the pony was a mystery until he could get the black shroud covering him off. Marc himself was wearing the cloak made by Rarity. With his back to the window, he looked like a dark figure covered by pure white with only the whites of his eyes visible to the attacker. Just like the old days.

Marc had fought quadrupeds in the past like feisty dogs and big cats, but never a pony. The impact caused by the pony hitting the wall told Marc a bit about their body weight, and the fact he could’ve gotten so much distance out of that kick proved to him that he was, in fact, stronger than ever.

The unicorn had recovered and now took a stance like he was about to charge at Marc, but instead charged up his horn and shot a blast of pure arcane at him. Marc could sense the energy building up and dodged preemptively to the side, though a bit of his cloak was singed and the window behind him cracked apart.

“Not the cloak!” Rarity cried out.

Marc launched himself towards the figure, though the speed at which he did was higher than he was used to, causing him to miss the punch that was aiming to follow up where his kick had landed. The pony sidestepped Marc’s fist that ended up going straight through the thin wall.

“They didn’t say anything about a two-legged freak being here!” the mystery pony rasped.

“Who’s they? And why have you been following us all day? First at the bakery, then at the library!” Marc yelled as he pulled his fist out of the wall.

“You think those were me? We’re everywhere pal,” the trespasser said as he charged up his horn.

Marc braced himself for what he was about to unleash but was met with a flash of light that momentarily blinded him. By the time he regained his sight, the interloper was gone.

“Where’d he go?” Marc quickly asked Rarity.

“I-I don’t know!”

Marc rushed to the broken window but found no sign of the assailant; could unicorns teleport?

“Rarity, did you know that pony?”

“No! At least, I don’t think so?”

“Why would anybody want to attack you? Do you have a stalker?”

“I’ve met nearly every pony in town by now; there’s nopony that I can think of that’d try to do something like this. I’ve heard rumors of dangerous things happening in the city, but I never would’ve imagined it could find its way to a pleasant village like Ponyville.”

Marc’s mind was racing from the recent bout, and there was a nagging at his head that something was terribly wrong. Khonshu sent Marc to Rarity rather than Luna for a reason. Was it to protect her? The attacker wasn’t after him, but Rarity. She couldn’t think of anybody who might do this, so the motive was unlikely to be personal. Why would someone want to kidnap her? She’s technically a national hero thanks to her playing a part in vanquishing Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon; Princess Luna. Marc was sent here because of a problem concerning the Moon. The lines were connecting in Marc’s mind. Rarity was attacked because she helped reform Princess Luna. She helped. There were others…

…The bakery… Pinkie Pie…

…The library… Twilight Sparkle…

…Wait.

“You think those were me?”

Oh no.

“Marc? What are you doing? Why are you just standing there?” Rarity looks around at her trashed sister’s room. “How did you know that pony would be here? Where did you learn to fight like that?

“…Who are you-”

“Rarity, I promise I’ll answer your questions later, but we don’t have time right now.”

“Huh?”

“Your friends are in danger.”

Comments

[Lion96]

Ok, Moon Knight in Equestria? You got me hooked!
Please don't let this die and PLEASE bring back his costume. The ponies and especially Luna has to know about the guardian of the moon!

[Skywolf_02]

“Well, I became curious after Nightmare Moon’s return, but also because I’ve always been more of a fan of the sky at night than during the day, even if I don’t get to enjoy it as much. Don’t get me wrong, I love the day Princess Celestia brings as much as the next pony.” She looks up and continues, “but I believe there’s a subtle beauty, elegance, and calmness to the night sky that just doesn’t get as much appreciation as it deserves. I can certainly empathize with Princess Luna’s jealously and indignation, especially during my starting years into the fashion industry. All the work that goes into bringing us this beautiful night sky, and she gets a fraction of the attention her sister gets. A crime against beauty, I say. Doesn’t dismiss the crime of trying to plunge Equestria into total darkness, though,” she added curtly.

Khonshu would like that very much, great job Rarity… now don’t piss him