#4 - Knightmare The Changeling

“...Do you hear that music, Dave?” Pup asked as they came upon the sight of what was generally known as “The Great Battlefield”. The entire field was normally the taboo of the ponies of Equestria, as it was said that no one could even begin to traverse the nearly inhospitable landscape without dying a horrible death. It was normally a desolate, and lonesome place...

So why were there Ponies with massive weapons, and changelings with tools clamped in their jaws, all working on what looked like a metallic sailing ship? It baffled Puppy and Dave, even more so when they saw the familiar sun banner of Equestria fluttering on top of it. The ship was sleek, deadly even. Black as pitch, with gold trimming spotted here and there, quickly being restored by the team of changelings hard at work on it. Massive propellers jutted out of the top of it, covered in rust and with the obvious signs of wear all about it.

“Seriously...that music...” Puppy muttered.

Suddenly, a dreadfully familiar figure that Pup had heard all about, thanks to the newspapers, flew right in front of her, a bizarre smile on her face. “Are you the interview gal?” Chrysalis asked. When Pup managed a dull nod, her smile grew even wider, as she gestured to the ship, and said, “Follow me, then!”

Confused, but feeling that ever-present tug in her gut, Puppy somewhat reluctantly followed her, while Dave cowered underneath her mane. As they flew closer to it, Pup spotted what could only be her target: a strange, bipedal changeling, waving its arms at the others. From what she saw, the stranger-

“Can I call him a strangeling?”

“Dave, not now!”

The strangeling seemed to be the one in charge of the entire operation, commanding the others with a cool confidence. It glimpsed the pair of them flying towards them, and a swarthy (Pup had no idea why she chose that word) grin appeared on its face.

“HELLO UP THAR!” he bellowed in an unfamiliar accent. “Care to come and join us, before those old mechs blast ye outta the sky?”

“Ah!” Dave yelped at the sight of said “mechs” aiming massive guns at them.

“Aye! Erm, I mean, yes please!” Pup said, flapping her wings a bit faster.

The strangeling looked about at his “crew”, and shouted, “Well? Land, damn it!” When none of the bodies moved, he bellowed in a louder voice, “OI! MAKE SOME BLOODY ROOM!”

An earthy-grey pony added her voice to the shout. “THE CAPTAIN SAID MOVE, SO MOVE!”

“MOVE YOUR BLOODY ASSES!” Chrysalis shouted as well.

“WHY ARE WE YELLING?!” a white unicorn with a neon-blue mane yelled in confusion.

“BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE WORD ‘MOVE’ MEANS NOW!” A pink alicorn happily shouted.

“CAN I YELL TOO?” Dave asked.

“NO!” Puppy yelled, her eye twitching just a little bit.

As they touched down, another white unicorn, this one with an ocean blue mane, shook his head, and said in an apologetic tone, “You’ll have to forgive us, ma’am. We’re a little brain-dead at the moment.”

A black alicorn snorted from besides him, her draconic, turquoise colored eyes alight with amusement. Tossing her light-blue starry mane over her head, she asked, “Isn’t that us all the time?”

Pup was extremely confused now. She frantically pointed to the entire crew, stuttering, "...But...what...Nightmare...Chrysalis...Pirates...Cadence...WHAT?!"

Dave nodded solemnly, and said, “T’is a sad day indeed, when Puppy Love is finally bamboozled by something.”

“That's nothing,” the black alicorn laughed. “Watch THIS!”

With that, her starry mane wrapped itself around her body, quickly transforming her into...well, words can’t do it much justice, especially as Pup was too confused to form any good words.

“Knightmare taught me that trick!” she giggled.

The sprite peeked out from his hiding spot, and felt his jaw drop at the form standing in front of them. “Totally...worth...everything...” he stated.

Chuckling lightly, the strangeling walked up to the humanoid (Pup thought that was what they were called), and teasingly poked her...well endowed chest. “Complain all you like,” he said, “I still like it!”

He gave Chrysalis a grin, causing her to blush, and grumble angrily, before walking off. Still chuckling, he extended a hand towards Pup.

“The name’s Knightmare. Pleased to meet you.”

She took his hand in her hoof, and replied, “I’m Puppy Love, journalist. I take it you were expecting us?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I was,” Knightmare said, smiling all the while. He tapped the side of his head, and added, “I guess you could say I'm 'connected' to several of the Chess Pieces.  Including one 'Ivan the Zebra', as much as it annoys him."

“Well, that’s a welcome surprise,” Puppy sighed, glad she didn’t have to explain why she was there. “Mind if I ask what all of...” she gestured to the enormous airship behind them. “...This is?”

“This?  This is our airship, the RLS Ragnarok!  Built 'er up out of old scraps from this overglorified junkyard.”

“That’s...that’s impressive.”

“Maybe,” he said in an offhanded tone. “But when you learn to be a scavenger, then it makes building contraptions like this much easier.”

“I would say so,” the Pegasus agreed. “I'd ask more questions, but I think I should save those for the actual interview, hm?”

“Aye,” Knightmare nodded. “So, shall we get this bird offa the ground and do the interview high in the skies?”

This surprised Puppy. “It can actually fly now? But it looks like...” She then turned to see that the changeling and pony team had just finished, proud grins on their faces. “...They work fast,” she commented dryly.

“Damn straight!” the changeling leader laughed.

“We can show you a thing or two about teamwork!” Chrysalis added.

The journalist couldn’t help but laugh with the other two, caught up in their mirth. “In that case, lead the way,” she giggled.

Knightmare grinned in excitement, and led them onto the deck of the ship. “Hold onto your butts!” He turned, and shouted over his shoulder, “OCTAVIA!  Man the wheel!”

The earth pony musician slipped a plumed tricorne hat onto her head, and grasped the wheel.

“LYRA! Start the engines!”

A green unicorn with a golden harp for a cutie-mark grabbed a lever, and pulled, an earth rumbling roar echoing throughout the area. Idly, Puppy noticed that she had some form of golden gauntlets wrapped around her forehooves.

“CHRYSALIS! Take to the skies!”

“What?! Why?” the changeling queen asked in an almost whiny tone.

“...This is a LIGHT destroyer,” the captain pointed out. “We can’t take off with FIVE HUNDRED CHANGELINGS crowded onto every deck!”

The queen sighed, and mumbled in a quiet voice, “Damn you, and your damn logic...” Still, she did as she was told, and flew into the sky, quickly accompanied by the dull buzzing roar of her subjects.

As the ship flew into the skies, finally taking its maiden voyage, Puppy’s eyes widened in amazement. Here she was, witnessing history in the making; a relic of the past being brought back to life, and she got to experience it. Most ponies would be humbled by such an experience, but the intrepid journalist...well, she just felt all tingly inside.

“Wow!” she said, looking over the side of the ship. “You really weren’t kidding, were you?”

“I may be silly, prone to bouts of insanity, and a lover of pranks, but I do NOT kid around...” Knightmare said, before sheepishly grinning at the sound of hooves rushing on the deck. “Except when the kids are around.”

As if those were the magic words, a trio of fillies suddenly appeared, each one leaping onto another crew member, and letting out an ear-piercing cry of, “THE NIGHTMARE CRUSADERS HAVE ARRIVED!”

“So...um...should we just...start the interview now?” Puppy asked awkwardly.

“ Yeah, that sounds like a plan,” he lightly chuckled. “Calm down, girls, you'll hurt someone!” he said to the children. Said children simply started moving around the crew members, while Knightmare led the journalist and sprite to the edge of the ship. “So, what’s first on the agenda?”

Discreetly, the other crew members took their places behind their captain, the fillies still clinging to random crew members. Chrysalis was the only one standing, until Knight pulled down on her tail, and growled, “Sit.”

The queen huffily sat down, not noticing the jester’s cap that he placed on her head.

Dave pulled out his notepad.

INTERVIEW

"So, Knightmare...what is your full name? And are you an alien, just like the others I've met?"

“Officially?  HRM {His Royal Majesty} High-General Knightmare Demonbane, Prince of Equestria and Knight of the Realm....Some funky-ass law about 'anyone who beds the Princesses willingly is considered a prince' thing....I don't understand it either.  But I prefer if you just call me Knightmare, or 'Knight'.  As for if I'm an alien?  Well, I'd use the 'take me to your leader' line, but me and Celestia have met...many times..."

Chrysalis: “Including in bed...”

Nyx: “Twice.”

Shining Armor: “Suffice to say, he's not a virgin anymore...”

"...Erm...you and the Princess are an item, then?"

"That....you'll have to ask her about.  Me and her...y'know...well, we were kinda drunk....I blame Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis: "WHAT!?"

"OI!  You were the one that convinced a pair of drunks to do the dirty deed in Twilight's bed!  AND YOU JOINED US!"

Chrysalis: "...True."

“ANYWAYS!” Pup coughed. “I take it that means that Celestia is the one who summoned you? Why did she?”

“Dunno.  Maybe she thinks I'm cute?  I just know she needed someone with, and I quote, 'a kind soul, an iron will, and really, REALLY, hard to kill.'  All in all, I fit the bill best.”

“Well, that certainly makes sense...I guess. Does that mean you’ve got strange powers too? What do they do?”

“Standard changeling skillz, some advanced musical magic, and some 'special abilities' granted by Celestia herself.”

“Really? How do they work?”

“So long as the sun shines, three specific forms of mine that no other changeling can do, have powers beyond belief.  One has such brute strength, that a full grown dragon would be hard pressed to overpower me. Another has the might of the sun itself behind its magical abilities, and the last is so blindingly fast ,that I honestly doubt Rainbow Dash could keep up.”

"Wow. That's incredible. Mind if I ask why you do so many musical numbers?"

"Would you believe that, due to some modification Celestia made to me during the whole 'drag to Equestria' thingy, I'm literally incapable of NOT bursting into song when I get inspired?  Plus, for some reason, The Will of Equis, AKA Miss Lauren Faust herself, apparently loves spontaneous choreography.  Hence the ludicrous number of musical numbers.  They happen like...five or six per day.  More if there's a scheduled concert or a major party."

“Speaking of concerts, I heard that you were at the Grand Galloping Gala, last time they held it. How did that go?”

“You know the GGG is cursed?  Literally, every time it's held, it falls apart.  THIS time it fell apart in such a way that everyone was happy...it was friggin' AWESOME!"

"I suppose that’s a good thing, then. So, why are you here?"

"If by 'here', you mean The Great Battlefield, we're pretty much gearing up for some major hell coming Equestria's way.  I've got reliable sources telling me the shit's gonna hit the fan in the near future."

“Speaking of ‘we’, what about your crew? How did you get them to come here with you?”

"Most of them it was just dumb luck.  Octavia agreed to join in hopes that hanging out with a lunatic like me will help her get over her PTSD, Vinyl's protective of Octavia, Cadence wants to help the Changelings, Shining Armor doesn't trust me alone with his wife, Nyx is technically trapped in my guitar, and Chrysalis is adamant that she's my PROPER queen and won't leave me alone, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders-"

"NIGHTMARE CRUSADERS!"

"Err...yeah, Nightmare Crusaders want to be heroes and, well...they hid among the luggage up until we reached Dredgemane. By then, we didn't have the time or resources to make it back to Ponyville to get them home...so their families are trusting me to keep 'em safe."

“Wow. That’s a very large responsibility. But, I’m sure you can take care of them. So, why exactly are you doing all of this?"

"Necessity.  The Changeling Wasteland was once known as 'Dream Valley', the former home of the three pony tribes, living in harmony with the Flutterponies and Seaponies.  Now?  After the fall of Tirek, and Discord's insanity, Dream Valley is a wasteland. The Flutterponies have been cruelly mutated into what are now known as 'Changelings', the Seaponies have turned isolationist, and there are no ponies in Dream Valley to make it beautiful....so we're doing it ourselves.  As well as preparing for the mysterious 'EndGame' to save all of Equestria, hence working on recovering the magitek weapons and armor here at the Great Battlefield.  It's a lot of work, but it'll be worth it in the end."

“I can tell. All of the other Pieces seem to be preparing for something large as well...Hm, what are your plans for the future?"

"IF we survive 'The EndGame', I plan on finishing up Dream Valley, maybe do another musical tour, and settle down somewhere nice and quiet.  Maybe build a treehouse or something."

"Anything you'd like to say to the readers at home?"

"As an old hero of my world once said....  Do the impossible, See the invisible!  ROW ROW, FIGHT THA POWAH!"

“Well, thank you for your time,” Pup said, shaking Knightmare’s hand once more. “I think this will make a very special edition of the Inquirer.”

“Sure!  Mind sticking around?” the changeling asked, giving her a mischievous look.  “We're about to head back to Canterlot, it's been a long while and...” Here, he paused, pressing a finger to the side of his head, and nodded grimly. “...Yes ma'am!  We'll be back as soon as possible!  Stick aboard anyway, miss Love.  MISS OCTAVIA!  MISS LYRA!  FULL SPEED AHEAD!!!!  SET COURSE FOR CANTERLOT CASTLE!”

“Wait, what?!” Puppy asked, once more feeling a wave of confusion pass over her.

“Princess' orders!”  Shining Armor barked out, falling into the more soldier-like persona that Equestria knew him for. “Something's going down in Canterlot and she's too panicked to give a lot of details, just to bring every able body to help evacuation!”

Before Puppy could ask for more details, Knightmare had rushed to the prow of the ship, a manic smile on his face, as he shouted out, “It's time to...HOWL INTO THE DANGER ZONE!”

At those words, the ship suddenly shot forward, rocketing across the wasteland, so fast that the mechs below couldn’t track it, and those that wasted munitions missed by miles.  As they blasted over Oasis, Octavia had to pull the airship higher, lest the intense speeds kick up a sandstorm.  Even now, trees and bushes down below were being whipped around by the sheer velocity of the deadly airship flying overhead.

Ripping across the landscape, a journey that would have taken months on foot, weeks by train, and days by a NORMAL airship was reduced to barely three hours!

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

On the bridge of the Flying Dutchman, Captain “Sparrow” Jack swept off her fancy leather tricorn in a silent salute as the reconstituted Warden vessel screamed past. She imagined she could feel the shockwave rock her back on her heels, despite the actual events taking place several hundred miles away, the image being streamed to the Dutchman’s monitors via a partially functioning mech in the Battlefield she’d resurrected for just that purpose. At her back, the survivors of the old warbird's original crew raised a raucous cheer, as their beloved ship made its presence known once more to the world it had died to protect so long ago.

“Hyu go gets ‘em, boyo!”

“Make hus proud, young ‘un! Der Varhawk’s have gots hyu back!”

“Show dat black schticky stuff who’s da boss!”

“Don’t get ketchup in der seats! It doesn’t come back out!”

Jack rolled her eyes and mentally whiplashed her jubilant crew, snapping them to rigid, if annoyed, attention.

“We can have time to celebrate later, idiots,” she commanded. “Get this tub of lard moving if you want to get there in time for the fun!”

“Aye, Herr Captain, ve go!” The monstrous soldiers roared back, sloping to their stations faster than a mortal eye could follow.

The Lord of Horror, Lady of Ill Tidings, and Harbinger of Shadow’s lips curled in a cold smile as the gargantuan engines thundered to life, raising the decrepit Apocalypse-class airship into the chilly northern air. Her fingers closing about the wheel, she murmured to herself, “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum...”

As the sleek black airship rockets past the ancient dusty desert, Knightmare began howling in the wind, prompting the Changeling warriors to join, the sound a growing cacophony in the high skies, ripping past a smaller prop-driven airship, the Mikoyan. Likely startling those on board.

“LET IT BE KNOWN UNTO THE WORLD! THE RAGNAROK FLIES AGAIN!” Knightmare screamed, the intense sound carrying across the expanse of the Everfree as they passed over Trottingham, emulating the Royal Canterlot Voice quite nicely.  The jet-black light destroyer rocketed past a familiar, broken-down airship, before blasting through a floating island with a huge hole running through it, Octavia weaving through the hole in the island with almost shocking ease.

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

After passing the island, a familiar floating diamond appeared off the bow and a little to starboard. The Possibility, in all its opulent glory, hung in the sky, the banner of the New Dominion plastered on its side. As it was passed, the ragged captain flared both his wings, jumped to his hind legs, and removed his classic ‘Monkey D Luffy’ straw hat, only to place it over his heart. A chorus of roars, screeches, howls and whinnies poured forth, only to be lost a moment later to the wind.

“Godspeed, you damn pervert.”

OIOIOIOIOIOIO

From near the large hole in the floating isle, a zebra poked his head out. He was covered in equal parts blood and oil. He shot the Ragnarok a glare and sneezed. He lifted a gem from his pouch and appeared on the rag tag deck of The Scourge. "Damn it. He's going to get there first." He complained.

"And he flew through your Island, Ivan."

"It looked cool, I'll let him have that one."

OIOIOIOIOIOIO

Puppy felt her lunch rise up into her stomach, as the ship came towards Canterlot...

And there, right before her eyes, was something so horrible, that the word “nightmare” didn’t even begin to scrape the surface. It was terror incarnate, a pure monstrosity...

And for the first, and only, time in her life, Pup learned what true fear was that day.

Knightmare is from JJ Malcolm's story, "From Nobody to Knightmare"

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