//------------------------------// // Talented Pets // Story: Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale // by TheothersideofSunny968 //------------------------------// "Oh thank you so much for helping me set up, Sunny" Fluttershy said as she poured food into several pet food bowls, each one a different color and size with different animal's faces on them to symbolize who they are for. "Everypony else has been so busy with the talent show and the bake sale, i just wouldn't feel right to ask for help with all try have to do." Fluttershy had worked super hard setting things up with Mayor Mare and the Cakes to set up a fundraiser event for the animal shelter. The plan was to not only raise money to care for the unadapted or abandoned animals at in the shelter, but also to raise awareness and hopefully adopt some out to some food homes. Everypony was onboard since it would also help out Sugar Cube Corner and hopefully bring in time more business for the town. Twilight and the others had been working all week to get things ready. "It's no problem, Fluttershy" Sunny said with a smile as he levitated some large bubbles of fresh water into some group water bowls. "Besides, I was actually thinking of adopting a pet as well." A light turned on, bringing a twinkle to the timid pony's eyes as she hopped into the air, lightly hovering with her hooves pressed to her cheeks in sheer joy as her eyes sparkled like stars. "You were?!?! Oh that is just so great, Sunny!" "Yeah, well I talked it over with Applejack" the yellow stallion began to say, as a small group of adoptable animals came out of their respective cages to get something to eat and drunk. "She thinks a little critter pal might be a good idea. You, her and all your friends have pets, so she thought it might be good for me to have one too." "I'm so happy for you!" Fluttershy said again as she closed the space between her and Sunny. "Any idea what kind of sweet, lovable, kind, and caring animal you might want as a pet?" "Well..." Sunny's gaze drifted off as he looked around at the various animals. "Something that might work well on a farm, like Wanona." "Oh! How about a beaver?" Fluttershy suggested, motioning to the furry creature who was enjoying a nice mouthful of food all at once. "He could help you clear away all the brush and fallen branches from the orchard, and use it to make a warm and comfy home!" "That's true. But I know Applejack and beavers haven't gotten along well in the past." Sunny said, readjusting his Stetson as he eyes the dam building creature. "Especially after that incident where Discord made them go nuts and flood the orchard." The mention of the incident caused Fluttershy to stutter. She didn't know Appeljack still talked about that. Granted the Beavers and Appeljack still had their differences, but Fluttershy thought they had at least moved past that incident. "W-well... H-how about a sweet little bunny?" The yellow pegusus swooped up a brown bunny and promptly presented it to Sunny. The creature smiled at the yellow stallion as its whiskers moved up and down. "It's cute, Fluttershy, but not really my thing. I don't think...." Something caught Sunny's eye. It looked like a large bird cage that was covered by a sheet. The first thing that came to Sunny's mind was maybe some exotic bird, like a parrot or a cockatoo. But he looked over and saw such birds dining in large perches with several other very colorful birds of all sizes, so that couldn't have been it. Sunny's curiosity had gotten the better of him, and as Fluttershy looked around for another animal to try and show to her unicorn friend, he walked over to the cage and lifted the cloth slightly, allowing him to catch a glimpse at who or what was inside the cage. Only after he did, Fluttershy noticed what he was doing, grasped and cried out "No! Sunny! That's Toast!" "Toast? But why would you keep toast in a bird-" Sunny had looked away from the dark inside part of the covered bird cage to shoot Fluttershy a confused look. When he did, something flew out of the cage without warning. The creature was large and covered in feathers, but that was as much as sunny could describe of the thing as it tacked him. It let out glass breaking screeches while it clawed up Sunny's face, causing the stallion to fall flat on his flank as he tried desperately to get the vile bird off of him. When the creature known as 'Toast' lost interest or perhaps forgot what he was doing, it flew off to find a nice dark tree to sleep in until nightfall. As the feathered fiend flew off, Sunny caught a glimpse of 'Toast'. Sunny recognized 'Toast' as that violent old owl that was Chasing Owlowiscious in Twilight's library the other day. Sunny had assumed it was a wild owl from the Everfree Forest or something to have been that mean. "Sorry, that's just Toast" Fluttershy said as she approached Sunny, concerned about the wounds he received from the bird of prey. But all Sunny did was plop down on his back, his chest quickly rising and falling with his heavy breathing, his heart still racing as he thought about how that bird was a menace to society. (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SJMizrTFiFo) "Ah'm surprised that ya'll ain't participatin' in the show tonight." Applejack said as she walked beside Rainbow Dash, both of them Heading towards the stage at the center of town. The talent show was tonight, and Applejack wanted to have one last rehearsal before then. "Eh" Rainbow commented, hovering beside Applejack at a slow rate. "Judges can't compete. And who better to judge who's talent is more awesome then me?! Besides, everypony already knows how awesome I am, I figure I'll let hem have a night to shine." Applejack just smiled and rolled her eyes as she and Rainbow approached Twilight who was talking with the other two judges. Twilight had been made the event's head organizer. With three events all going at once, the timing, scheduling, and budgeting needed to be handled by the most organized pony in town. None other then Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. As Twilight levitated a clipboard in front of her, and checked another thing off her list, she looked up to see two of her best friends. "Hey Applejack, Rainbow, you two ready for the competition tonight?" The purple princess asked. "Sure as sugar are!" Applejack replied, pulling her acoustic guitar off her back and strumming a few cords. The sound vibrated and created an angelic ring. "Me and ol' Betsy here are more then ready. But we're wonderin' if there was time before the show to get one last practice in." "Let me see...." Twilight flipped to the second to last page on her clipboard. The one with the line up for the evening. "Well... It seems that Rarity and the Ponytones scheduled a practice session right before the guests arrive..." Twilight then looked up from her clipboard and skimmed the area, along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was the first to speak up. "Where are they? Doesn't the show start in, like, an hour?" "TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!!!" Spike screamed as he ran down as fast as his little legs could carry him, sprinting the whole way from across town. When he arrived, the little purple and green dragon was completely out of breath, but fought against his collapsing lungs to inform Twilight and the girls of the terrible news. -at the adoption area of town square- "Ouch! Ow!" Sunny whimpered as Fluttershy proceeded to clean up the wounds the yellow stallion received from the deranged owl known as 'Toast'. "Ah! Ah!!! That really stings!" "Oh, I'm so very sorry, Sunny" Fluttershy apologized again. "But we really need to clean your wounds up. Otherwise they could leave scars or worse, get infected!" As the timid, yellow pegusus continues to pour what felt like acid on Sunny's wounds, the yellow unicorn decided to take his mind off the burnin pain with some conversation. "What is with that bird anyway? Why did he attack me like that?" "I'm sorry, I should have said something earlier" Fluttershy began to say as she continued to dress Sunny's wounds. "His name is 'Toast', or that's what the others call him. He comes and goes, and I've had to stop him from attacking some of the other critters. But for the most part he keeps to himself. He's never attacked me, but he does tend to act out randomly." "Like attacking somepony who takes a look into his cage?" Sunny spat with a bit of venom. "That bird is crazy with a capital 'C'!" "What in tarnation happened to you?!" Applejack's voice tore Fluttershy and Sunny from their own conversation to look over at Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow who were a little shocked by what they saw. Rainbow was holding back a fit of laughter. "Gee Sunny, what did you do? Pick a fight with a lawn mower?" "No!" Sunny grumbled. "That stupid owl that attacked Owluwiscious the other day went nuts and attacked me!" "Are ya ok?" Applejack asked, concerned as she took a few steps closer to the yellow unicorn and got a better look at him. "I'm fine, Applejack. I should be fine in no time." Sunny reassured her, meeting her nervous gaze with his emerald green eyes and throwing her his happy go lucky smile. "That's good to hear, but we have a really big problem" Twilight said, some panic in her voice. "Some of the acts for tonight canceled. The Ponytones who were supposed to open up in the second half of the show, all caught the flu and can't perform. Snips and Snails who were supposed to, ugh, well, rap sing I guess, had been pulled out by their mothers. They had been practicing so much, they let their grades slip. No pony has seen Zecora in a week, and she needed to sign in the other day. She was going to do a poetry reading and tribal dance of her people tonight to finish off the first half. Then well..." "Ya'll signed up to a do yer puppet show" Applejack said to Sunny. "Oh buck! That's right!" Sunny remembered. "I signed up not long after Twilight gave me the puppet and told me about the spell!" "If I had known that, I would have kept the original one" Twilight added. "But I sent it to Princess Celestia in Canterlot to use at her school." "So we have to fill 4 acts within the next hour or the whole thing will have to be canceled" Rainbow said flatly. "Oh no! But what about the animals who were looking forward to getting adopted?!" Fluttershy's eyes went wide with horror. "What about all the cupcakes I backed?!" Pinkie Pie said as she popped out of a near by animal food bowl, bits of the food still stuck in her fluffy pink mane. "We backed 325 cupcakes, 4 triple layer cakes and I even ordered in a chocolate fountain! A! Chocolate! Fountain!" "The best bet we have is to find some ponies to fill in" Twilight began. "Anypony know anypony who might be able to help us out?" The girls and Sunny thought for a moment, then some light bulbs flash on. "I think I have an idea..." Rainbow said as she stroked her chin. "I'll be back in a flash!" With that the cyan colored mare with a rainbow mane and tail zoomed off before explaining her plan. "I think I have a few ideas too" Twilight said after a moment. "Pinkie, I'll need your help to gather a few supplies. Can you spare 20 minutes or so?" "Sure thing, Twi!" Pinkie said with a salute. "Anything for a friend and a chocolate fountain!" "Great. And Sunny" Twilight turned to her newest friend and pupil. "Do you think you can come up with a new act by tonight? I can put you in the last slot to give you time to prep. If not, I need to know now." Sunny's heart pounded so loud in his ears he couldn't think. He didn't want to disappoint his friends, but he wasn't entirely sure he could come up with something. Unfortunately for him, the yellow unicorns lips spoke before his brain could catch up. "No problem, Twilight. Tonight. Last part of the show. You got it!" "Excellent, let's go Pinkie!" And with that, the purple alicorn princess dashed into town with the pink party pony quickly behind her. "Ah'll leave ya ta prepare, Sugar cube" Applejack said as she gave him her quick smile this time. "Ah have ta go and get one last practice session in before the show. Are ya sure ya will be alright?" "Y-yeah" Sunny's voice shook as his brain began to catch up with him. "I-I'll be alright. Go ahead and practice." "Ah'll right, see ya at them' show, Sugar cube" Applejack said as she trotted of towards the stage. Fluttershy remained silent for a moment, just watching Applejack cross the field towards the stage at the heart of the town square. After a few moments of silance, Fluttershy turned to Sunny and asked him "so... Um... What is your plan, if you don't mind me asking?" That's when Sunny gulped and the beads of sweat began to flow down the sides of his head. "Honesty, I have no idea.... Oh what am I going to do?! What was I thinking?!" At this point, Sunny was more or less talking to himself then to Fluttershy as he began pacing back and forth, reminding the timid yellow mare more of Twilight when she went into her 'panic and thinking' mode. Just then Sunny tripped over something, sending him to fall over with his face landing in a water dish, causing several of Fluttershy's animal critter friends scattering. Sunny just sighed, his face still under water in the dish, which created several large bubbles. He slowly pulled his muzzle out of the water dish and wiped it clear of the water. "Can this day get and worse?" Just then a long, skinny scarf like creature bounced up to him and licked his nose. The creature looked almost like a weasel but had the markings similar to a raccoon. It then proceeded to yawn and crawled up under Sunny's hat that had remained atop of his head. The creature circled around the hat until it found a comfortable position then yawned and fell asleep. "Awww he likes you" Fluttershy commented with a small smile. "Well, at least you found an animal that likes you."