The Long Nightmare

by The Sonic Mage

Chapter 2: The Black Knight

(Present Time)

It’s almost 9:00 pm in Manehattan. The city is dark, blanketed in the shadows of the night. During these hours, small time crooks try to disappear into the darkness after completing whatever crime they may commit. In the case of one pony, however, the darkness is the one place to stay away from.

A yellow earth pony by the name of Shifty Tricks was speed-walking as best as he could through the streets of City Central, trying to keep a low profile. He keeps sticking to well lit, crowded areas in an attempt to fade into the domestic chaos. A cold sweat grips him at every moment. He eyed every dark alley, every shadowy rooftop, wondering if he was being watched.

He was.

Atop one of the roofs, staring down at the crowds below, dressed in black iron armor, wearing a utility harness around their torso, a dark cloak that could stiffen for on-command gliding, iron boots equipped with grappling hooks and deployable mechanical digits on the bases of the front ones, and a dark mask, a figure took note of the earth pony with a slightly stiff walk.

Said earth pony was trying to get to a side street and slip into the dead parts of Manehattan.

That wasn’t going to happen without incident.

Shifty Tricks quietly cut through the crowd and took a street that would take him along the Manehattan River.

The armored character followed him by rooftop.

---

Shifty leaned against the guardrail by the river. After a fair amount of walking, and looking over his shoulder, he stopped by an access gate to rest his stiff legs.

Tricks reached into the inner pocket of his brown leather jacket and fished out a mint, freeing it from its wrapper and popping it into his mouth. The smell and taste relaxed him, as did the sound of the water moving.

He looked over at the access gate. There was a staircase heading down to a cove of rocks where things in the river often washed up.

Turning his head back around he looked up at the sky to count stars.

Only to be met with two white eyes housed by a black helmet glaring down at him.

“Oh sho-!” Shifty moved to run, only for a plated hoof to grab his barrel and slammed his back onto the ground. He then felt himself getting pulled up onto his hind legs by the sides of his jacket, and pushed against the river access gate.

The Black Knight had come for him.

“Please!”

“Where is he?” The armored vigilante asked. Their voice sounded slightly distorted, like a ghost or specter.

“W-What?”

The Knight shook Shifty against the gate. “The Coin Killer, where is he!”

“W-Why would I know where he is?” Shifty stammered.

“Three weeks ago, you crawled into a hospital with bolts from a light repeater bow in both of your left legs.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“You also had a bit fastened head-side up to your jacket,” The Knight leaned in, practically nose-to-nose with Shifty Tricks, “Every single one of Coin’s victims have at least two things in common: They all have a coin fastened to their clothes, and they all do work for the mob.”

“The mob?” Shifty’s fearful tone gained an air of defensiveness, “Hold on a second, I haven’t done mob work in a long while, my hide is retired!”

“Do you think either me or Coin cares?” The Knight’s eyes narrowed, glaring daggers at the earth pony.

“L-Look I never hurt or killed anypony while I was working with them,” Shifty explained, “All I did was run messages, sometimes drop off money so that some other stooge could deposit it. I never hurt anypony, I swear!”

“And yet, you were still targeted,” The armored vigilante tightened their grip on the ex-convict, “All the other survivors of the Coin Killings have fled town, and I do not have the time to hunt them down.

“You’re the only survivor left in this town, and I need you to tell me what happened the night you were attacked.”

“I can’t,” Shifty shut his eyes, as if he was almost on the verge of crying, “They might kill me if I do.”

The Knight reached down to their waist and drew a large sword from its scabbard. “I will kill you if you don’t tell me.”

It was a jest. They weren’t going to kill Shifty. But that’s the point of a threat.

“Y-You wouldn’t…”

The vigilante drove the sword into the low stone wall holding the guardrail.

“Try me.”

“Gah! Okay I’ll talk! Just please don’t kill me and put me down!”

The Black Knight slowly put the panicking pony down on the ground, extracting their sword from the stone and sheathed it.

Shifty pressed a hoof into his chest to slow his frantic breathing, while rummaging in his pockets for a mint. He fumbled with the wrapping, his shaking hooves keeping him from opening it quickly. When Shifty did manage to get the mint out, he tossed it into his mouth and chewed it with ferocity.

“Talk,” The Knight said, losing patience, “What happened the night you were attacked?”

“Okay,” Shifty swallowed the last bit of mint, “Uh-This was after I had retired, just to let you know.”

The Knight just continued to glare at the ex-con.

“I was walking back to my apartment building. I was using a shortcut I knew through the dead streets. And as I’m walking, somepony must have come up behind me, because all I remember is feeling a hit at the back of my head. I got clubbed by something blunt and heavy.

“I remember being on the ground and getting restrained. They tied my hooves up and put a bag over my head so I couldn’t see who was taking me where.”

“‘They’?” The Knight asked.

“Yeah. ‘They’. It wasn’t one pony that clobbered me. More like, I don’t know, four?

“They dragged me off to the harbor, and sat me down on a crate. Started talking to some guy standing there who kept flipping this coin he had. I’m pretty sure that guy was their boss.”

‘Coin’s not working alone,’ The Knight thought with horror.

“The four ponies that caught me asked what to do with me. Their boss flipped his coin again, and when he caught it he looked at it…”

“...Then what happened?”

“What do you think happened?! The guy pulled out a repeater and shot me!” Shifty shouted, “I don’t even remember how I got close to the hospital.”

“You said you saw their boss. What did he look like?”

“I couldn’t really tell ya,” Shifty admitted, “He was standing where the light wouldn’t touch him.”

The Black Knight growled in frustration, punching the ground with a hoof, leaving a crack in the asphalt road.

“I, uh…” Shifty stammered, “I’m pretty sure it was a stallion.”

The Knight looked to Shifty. “Why?”

“I couldn’t make out too many specifics,” Shifty said, “But I could kinda make out the guy’s silhouette. And it a little too tall and definitely too built to be a mare.”

“What else could you make out?”

“Well…” Shifty’s attempt to recall details was interrupted by a smell. It was not a pleasant smell either, especially since it seemed to be coming from the river.

“Good Lord, what is that?” Shifty asked holding his nose, “Did somepony dump their dearly departed cat here or something?”

The Black Knight didn’t respond. They just went over to the river side and looked over the guardrail. There was something large lying on the rock pile near the bottom of the access gate stairs.

“There’s something there.” The Knight said, walking over to the access gate and, reaching into their utility harness, pulled out a lock pick.

Shifty watched curiously as The Knight made short work of the lock’s tumblers.

The gate slowly creaked open, and the two ponies slowly made their way down the stone steps. The moonlight shone down through the thinner clouds, revealing the “something” to be a pony, laying face down on the rocks.

“Hey, buddy, you alright?” Shifty said, almost as a reflex.

The Knight stepped closer, reaching to turn the pony over. The pony’s still body was wet to the touch and limp. They noticed something else about the pony.

They weren’t breathing. There was no pulse.

The Knight flipped the body over, only to be greeted by the sight of the late pony‘s lifeless face and two bolts in his torso.

“Oh,” Shifty stumbled back, covering his mouth, “Oh jeez, I…I think I’m gonna be sick.”

While Shifty turned away from the sight to make sure his stomach didn’t turn over, The Black Knight reached into their utility harness and pulled out an enchanted communications crystal. They sent a little magic through it and waited for a response.

---

“Velvet, don’t play with your food.”

Strongarm, the Manehattan Police Commissioner, an earth pony, was at his home, enjoying dinner with his family.

His daughter, Velvet, was holding a small amount of spaghetti with her developing magic. She was trying to make an octopus out of her pasta.

Upon being ordered to by her father, however, she put the ball of noodles and tomato sauce back down on her plate.

“Sowy daddy,” She said pouting.

Soulful Scribe, Strongarm’s wife, a unicorn, looked at their daughter with a kind smile, “Just don’t do it again, alright sweetie?”

“Yes mommy,” the young unicorn filly said.

Strongarm couldn’t help but smile as he wiped his muzzle and mustache. To him it was an honest miracle that he was married and had a child, considering his occupation. As a result he cherished every moment he could get with them.

And it was important that he do that, as duty could call at any moment. Speaking of which…

A vibration in the tan furred pony’s breast-pocket causing the hoof holding his fork to jerk, and hit his white dress shirt.

“Gosh darn it,” the commissioner said under his breath, pulling out the communication crystal in his breast-pocket. His sentiment of frustration was only strengthened by the contact name he saw on the crystal.

“Strongarm,” the ocean blue unicorn asked, “What’s wrong?”

Strongarm glanced up at his wife.

“I’m sorry honey,” the commissioner said with a sigh, rising from the table, “I’ve gotta take this.”

Soulful Scribe’s face fell a little. “It’s work again, isn’t it?”

“I promise I won’t take long.”

“It’s okay honey,” Feather said, “As long as a mare isn’t on the other end of that call, I’m not mad.”

Strongarm chuckled a little. Levity that was soon lost when he stepped out of the dining room and into the kitchen. He held the crystal to his ear.

“Commissioner Strongarm, speaking.”

“Commissioner, it’s me.”

“Damn it, Black Knight, I am trying to have dinner with my family!”

“Unfortunately, Commissioner, it will have to wait,” the armored vigilante said, “I found another stiff.”

Strongarm froze, his eyes gazing at nothing.

“One of Coin’s victims?”

“Two shots to the torso, and a coin, tail side up, attached to his clothes.”

The commissioner sighed, pushing his glasses up as he massaged the bridge of his snout. “Where is it?”

“Manehattan River, Access Point #22, in the residential sector of The Dead Streets.”

The commissioner scratched his beard stubble. “I’ll send a forensic unit down to pick up the body and gather evidence from the scene.”

“You might want to save a seat in one of your police vans,” The Knight said, “Because I’ve also got a witness for you.”

That one really made Strongarm do a double-take. He might have even forgotten to breathe.

“Commissioner?”

The commissioner straightened his glasses. “I-I’m sorry, did you just say you have a witness?”

“Yes, commissioner, I did.”

Strongarm’s expression changed from surprise to determination. “Keep them there,” the commissioner said, “I’m on my way.”

He hung up immediately, pulling the crystal in his pocket, heading straight for the front door.

His wife took notice of his demeanor.

“Strongarm,” she called, rising from the table, “What’s going on?”

“I need to get to the river,” he said, hurriedly throwing on his coat, “The boys just found something big!”

Soulful Scribe walked around the table, up to where the dining room met the front hall.

“Is it evidence?” She asked.

Strongarm turned to face his wife, leaning into the archway. “It’s a witness!”

Strongarm pulled his wife’s face close and gave her a kiss. He then looked over to their daughter. “I’ll be back Velvet, he said, “You behave yourself, now and listen to your mother. Okay?”

“Yes daddy.”

Strongarm gave Velvet a nod, before briefly kissing his wife again, putting on his hat, and rushing out the door.

---

The Black Knight put the crystal back on their utility harness.

“Wait, hold on, ‘witness’?” Shifty asked, bringing himself to his hooves, “You don’t mean me do you?”

The Knight simply look back at the ex-con, eliciting a look of fear from him.

“Oh no, you’re not dragging me any deeper into this!”

Shifty began to run, only for The Knight to grab the back of his jacket and hoist him up.

They looked Shifty in the eye as they held him up. “I told you: You are the only witness left in this city, and I can’t waste time looking for the ones who fled town.”

“If Coin and his crew find out that I told ya anything, they’ll definitely kill me!”

“He’ll kill untold numbers of ponies if you don’t,” The Black Knight continued to glare at Shifty, “Do you want that on your head to?”

Shifty was silent for a moment, glancing around, chewing his lip, quietly considering the few options he had.

“A-Alright…I’ll talk,” Shifty caved, “But only if you promise that I’ll be anonymous! No one can know that I’m your witness, or that you even have one! Not the public, not the media, and especially not the mob! Okay?”

“...You’re identity will be protected.”

“Thank you.”

---

It didn’t take long for the police to arrive. Any time a call came in regarding the Coin killings, every available unit sped to the scene. This time was no exception.

The Black Knight watched from a hotel rooftop, as police ponies formed a perimeter, investigators and forensic experts scoured the area for any evidence that wasn’t washed away by the river. All the while, an emboldened Commissioner Strongarm escorted Shifty Tricks to a police van. A sheet had been put over Shifty to hide his identity from any one who might be watching.

The Black Knight reached up to their face and slowly removed their helmet.

Tempest wasn’t worried about anypony seeing her, especially not when she was sitting atop the pitch-black rooftop of a tall abandoned building.

She looked out over the city, glistening with beautiful lights. Such beauty should match the place that facilitates it.

Tempest pulled a coin from her pocket, simply letting it sit in her hoof, as she contemplated what it represented.

Death

Fear

Crime

Injustice

Tempest began to glare at the coin, deploying the mechanical fingers in her front boots, forming a tight fit around the round metal piece of currency.

‘I’m going to find Coin,’ Tempest vowed in her mind ‘In the name of this city and the country, I’m going to find you and drive your mob into the ground.’