The Cutie Mark Crusaders were going to stay the night at Rarity's after crashing from a sugar high. Sunny helped Applejack and Rarity get them into bed, then Applejack took Sunny to the far edge of Ponyville, to Twilights castle.
"Are ya sure this can't wait till mornin', Sugar cube?" Applejack asked the yellow stallion.
"If you want, you can go ahead and head back to the farm, Applejack" Sunny told her. "But I need to know... Something isn't right. My cutie mark, not knowing my real name, and all these things.... It just doesn't feel right..."
Applejack put a hoof on his shoulder and smiled at him. "Ah ain't about to just leave ya ta fend fer yerself. Yer an honorary Apple now. And we Apples always stick together."
This brought an honest and sincere smile to the stallion's face. It was something that he needed to hear. Even if he didn't know it. It was the first and maybe the only stable thing in his life right now, was Applejack, her family, and the farm. It was the first thing he could call home.
As they reached the tree like castle, Sunny knocked several times on the front door. A little purple and green dragon opened the door. He was wearing a night cap and a stripped pajama top, while holding a pony stuffed animal that looked a little like Rarity.
"Hey AJ" he said with a yawn, wiping some sleep from his eyes. Then looked at the stallion with dazed eyes. "And you..." He yawned again, "Must be ... Sunny. Twilight's in the library. You know where that is, Right AJ?"
"Sure do spike" she said to the baby dragon. "Why don't cha get some rest? We can take it from here."
"Ok" he said without any complaints. "And if anything happens... Let me sleep threw it." With that, the little dragon disappeared down a hallway.
"Who's the dragon?" Sunny asked, still trying to learn about all of Applejack's friends.
"He's Twilight's number one dragon assistant" the farm pony answers as she happily trotted in.
"She has more than one?" Sunny shut the door behind them, then followed behind the orange farm pony.
The two of them walked down a long, dark hallway, kept light by a few glowing, purple crystals, that matched the color of Twilight's cutie mark. After a few minutes of traveling, Applejack stopped at a door on their left, knocked a few times, then her alicorn friend opened the door and greeted them with a friendly smile.
"Hey guys" she also yawned. "Sorry, it's been a long day. Come on in."
Sunny was beginning to feel bad for keeping everypony up so late. "Sorry for pressing the issue so late, miss Twilight, but... I need to know."
"It's ok, Sunny. That's what friends are for." Twilight said as she walked Applejack and Sunny over to the center of the room.
"So... We're friends too?" Sunny asked, kind of taken back by the whole thing still. I seemed that everypony he meets is his friend.
"Any friend of my friends, is a friend to me" she said. "And I hope to get to know you better after you remember everything about yourself. Now, stand right there, Applejack, please stand back..."
Sunny stood perfectly still, waiting for Twilight's further instruction. "Ugh... This won't hurt, will it?"
"It shouldn't" Twilight answered honestly and to the best of her knowledge. "How close your eyes..."
Sunny did as he was instructed. Twilight then lowered her head , having her horn barley touch the stallions's forehead with her magical aura that had grown around it. Suddenly Sunny's eyes opened and images began to flash in his head, black smoke, swirling tornados of leaves, marshmallows, a warm fire, dark laughter, the morning sun. Sunny then stepped away from the princess of friendship and shook his head violently.
"Did... Did it work?" Applejack asked, watching Sunny with interest and concern.
"Sunny?" Twilight asked as the stallion hung his head low, but remained standing. "Sunny, are you ok?"
After his head stopped spinning, he looked up at the girls, straitened his Stetson hat, and released a held breath. "I got.... Bits and pieces..." He began, his eyes darting back and forth, as if trying to look threw his previous memories as if they were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. "But... I only remember what happened after I woke up and saw Goldie Delicious...." He turned to the purple alicorn princess, slight confusion and concern spread lightly across his face. "Does the spell take time to work? Like, warm up or something?"
"No" Twilight answered, feeling slightly concerned. "There must be something more going on. Maybe you dealt with some past trauma and your suppressing a lot of your past."
"So it's a psychological affliction, not a magical one?" Sunny asked, thinking about what could have been so transfix that it would make him suppress his entire past.
"Maybe even a little bit of both" Twilight told the stallion.
"What do we do now?" Applejack, having taken in all what just happened and the conversation up until now, and was thinking of what to do about the current dilemma.
"Well, it would be best to keep a close eye on him for at least the next couple of days or so." Twilight began, "if you want, he can stay here at the castle. Spike and I can watch him and-"
"Um...." Sunny interjected. "I was actually hoping I could stay with Applejack and her family back at the farm." He cleared his throat and turned to Applejack, their emerald colored eyes locking as he shot her a hopeful smile. "I-if that's ok with you and your family, that is..."
To his surprise she returned the warm smile back. "Sure as shootin' it is!" She yelled it out without thinking, then toned her voice down a bit. "A-after all, yer like part of the family."
With that Sunny and Applejack thanked Twilight for their help, promised to let her know if anything happens, and wished her a goodnight.
As Sunny and Applejack continued their walk back to Sweet Apple Acres, they couldn't help but glance over at each other. But whenever one did, the other looked away. They made it half way home without even saying two words to each other. They just enjoyed the walk.
After they passed town hall, Applejack broke the silence. "Ya did a great job, ya know, clear in' th' east orchard."
"Thanks" he shot her another smile. "I meant to do more but..."
"That's ok. Ah'll go with ya tomorrow ta finish it up." She suggested. "If yer fillin' ok ta do it. Celestia had a couple ah guards come by and take th' statue away already."
"I still don't think it was just a statue that I saw though..." Sunny's face turned grim, his eyes darkened. "That voice.... So cold..."
A hoof landed on his back, startling him a little. He looked over at Applejack who just smiled back at him. "There's nothin' ta worry 'bout. Whatever's goin' on, mah' friends and I will stop it."
"Why is it when I look at you, I feel like I can trust your words more then anything?" Sunny bluntly asked.
"That's cuz' ahm tell in' the' truth" she tipped her hat, taking we hoof off the stallion's shoulder. "Ah' don't represent the element of honesty fer nothin'!"
That's where Sunny became confused. "The what of honesty?"
"A'll explain in th' mornin" she told the Stallion as they reached the arch that lead onto the Apple family farm. "And bah th' way. No more sleepin' in."
"What do you mean 'sleepin' in'?" Sunny asked. "I woke up with the roosters. The sun wasn't even fully up yet. Isn't that when we start?"
"Only the late risers" Applejack continued. "We ah'll wake up before the crack o'dawn, get ready, and start just before the roasters...." The both of them trailed off in conversation up until they reached the front doors of the farm house and quietly went inside.
Meanwhile, on a tree at the very edge of the east orchard that faced the farm house, a black shadow shifted in the knot hole of an apple tree. As it took a new form, an eye opened from the huddle of it. Green and red with a flair of green fire spouting from the edge of it.
"Suuuuuuuunnnnnnnnyyyy.....!"