That night Sunny couldn't get a wink of sleep. Everything that's happened in the last 24 hours; regaining his memory, finding out his father was a tyrant that threatened Equestria 1000 years ago, that he was a prince, that he was next up to rule the Crystal Empire, his revaluation thanks to the support of Twilight, Cadence, Shinning Armor and the power of the Crystal Heart. Even just one of those thugs would be enough to keep anypony's mind reeling. But none of this was what kept Sunny up. Oh no. What bothered him was the Stallion who he had to share the room with. Sunny sat up in his bed and looked across the room at the Royal guard who was fast asleep in the pull out bed.
At least that was one thing Alister didn't take away from Sunny, his bed. But everything else that Sunny held dear, the grey unicorn seemed to just swoop up in less then a day! Sunny glared hard at the sleeping stallion, who oddly enough seemed more like a statue when he slept than a living thing. His very faint breaths combined with his lack of movement, throw in the fact that he already was grey, just painted the picture in Sunny's mind that he was a statue. And for some odd reason, the thought of sharing his soon with a statue made him even more creepy then sharing it with some stranger. With a heavy sigh, Sunny got up and out of bed. He was as quiet as he could be as he made his was across the wood floor of his room and out the inconveniently creaking door. Without Sunny even noticing, Alister cracked an eye and watched the yellow unicorn leave the room.
Sunny made his way down the stairs as quietly as he could. He could have just teleported down the staircase, but the light and the sound created from the spell would have woken everypony up more then just him taking a chance with the rickety staircase. After several creaks and growns from the old wooden staircase, Sunny made it downstairs and from there into the kitchen, thinking a cool glass of water would help. As he poured his glass and took a small sip, a voice startled him from behind.
"Can't sleep?" Alister's cold voice send a chill up Sunny's spine, causing him to drop the glass. Luckily, Alister caught the glass just an inch before it hit the ground, casting his green magical aura around it and levitation it back up to Sunny as he stepped out of the shadows.
" Thanks." Sunny narrowed his eyes at the grey stallion, his words hard and sharp. "What are you doing up?"
"I'm trained to sence the slightest movement, even while I sleep." He explained as he grabbed a glass and lured himself some water. "You woke up, so did I. And I got worried, so I came down here."
"Well I'm fine" Sunny spat at the grey unicorn as he tossed out the rest of his water, now no longer feeling thirsty, and putting the glass gently into the sink. "Guess you could go back to bed."
"I suppose I could" Alister said as he took a small sip. "But you know... There was something plaguing my mind...making it slightly hard to sleep..."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Well good night." Sunny said, attempting to leave the kitchen. He could really care less about what Alister worried about.
"It's about what took you so long getting back to the farm..." Alister calmly said as he swirled the water around in his glass, watching the tiny tides he made.
Sunny paused at the entryway to the kitchen. His heart stopped. He turned slowly around, his full attention on the Royal guard. "W-what do you mean? I came strait here from the station."
"Hmmm..." Alister played with the cup a little bit more before gently placing it on the kitchen table. "Funny thing. I pay very, very close attention to the detail of my surroundings. And something just doesn't add up..."
As Alister spoke, Sunny slowly made his way across the kitchen to come face to face with the Royal guard. "And what's that?"
"Well..." Alister continued. "The station is only a few minutes away from town hall. Town hall is at the heart of town, with Sugar Cube Corner being just off to the side, right? And you two seemed to have made it back just around lunch time. Correct?"
"Yes?..." Sunny still didn't understanding what the grey unicorn was getting at.
"Well, if you recall, Princess Twilight mentioned that she stopped off to grab a blueberry and gem cupcake for her dragon assistant, in an attempt to cheer him up. Knowing her personality, she would never use rank to allow herself to cut to the very front of a busy line. And around noon and 4-6 o'clock, I know the bakers are very, very busy.
"So by the time Twilight was able to get the treat, and assuming that she walked the rest of the way to her castle at the far end of town, so as not to risk damaging the custom made cupcake, you should not only have made it back here, but have had the honor of enjoying the good news with the rest of the Apple family..." Alister paused for a moment allowing Sunny to catch up, then turned his green eyes toward The yellow stallion. "But you were nowhere to be seen. In fact, you didn't show up until much later after Princess Twilight had heard the whole story from her dragon assistant. And that's assuming he was feeling better and could speak clearly without pausing to catch his breath."
"So what are you saying?" Sunny was now no more then twelve inches from Alister, his eyes like knives pointed at the Royal guard, his heart beating faster and faster with every word spoken.
But Alister kept his cool, and calmly spoke in the same collective tone he had from the start of their conversation. "I was just curious as to what you were up to. From what everypony says, this place means as much to you as it does to the Apples. Even Twilight said you rushed right over here. And yet, you arrive hours later. Mind telling me where you went that was so important? Why you didn't come strait back here after such a long journey? "
"What I do and where I go is none of your concern." Sunny snapped, his blood begining to boil, fueled by both anger and fear.
"You know, last time I came here to this quiet little town, I was investigating an issue" Alister remained calm as his eyes locked with Sunny's. "There were sightings of somepony who was very, very dangerous. Maybe you've heard of him? King Sombra?"
Sunny puffed up his chest and began to breath deeper, trying to calm himself down. "What of him?"
"Well it's an odd thing" Alister continued, calming his expression again. "The report said an earth pony by the name of 'Sunny' had seen him around an apple farm orchard. But it turned out to be just a statue. Several more sightings of King Sombra have been reported since then. Know anything about that, 'Sunny'?"
"Sounds like your information isn't very accurate." Sunny snapped, but Alister remained unphased. "I'm no earth pony. But I can pull my own when it comes to a hearty work load."
"I'll ask again" Alister calmly spoke, his frozen eyes locked into Sunny. "Are you, or are you not, the 'Sunny' that was in my reports involving this farm and the Sombra sightings?"
"And what if I am?" Sunny spat at the unicorn guard. "Am I going to be hauled away for seeing ghosts?"
"No, not for seeing ghosts" Alister blinked and tore his eyes away from Sunny to face the slightly open kitchen cabinet. A glass floated out of it wrapped in Alister's green magical aura. After filling it with water from the sink, Alister brain hr it to his lips and swirled it around, observing how it moved around in the glass for a moment, before taking a small sip. "I will find out what is going on around here, Sunny. And if you are involved with the shadow King, Sombra, you will be tried the same as him. Unless you work with me to bring him to justice."
"Aren't you supposed to be on vacation" Sunny could feel his body temperature raising as his glare at the grey unicorn intensified.
"I was ordered to take a vacation, yes" Alister calmly replied. "And this is how I relax best. Putting villains behind bars. And no matter how you look at it, King Sombra is in every way a Villain."
"AND HOW WOULD YOU KNOW THAT?!" Sunny snapped, yelling without thinking, stomp I his hooves as he lunged at Alister, his nostrils flaring, chest pounding, face turning red. "What makes you so self-righteous?! What gives you the authority to decide who is good and who is guilty?!"
Alister's calm cool exterior cracked as he took a calming breath, muzzle inches from Sunny's. "It's my duty as a royal guard to protect and serve. I know you would know nothin about that, but to a guard who swears his life for the betterment of Equestria, the princesses, and pony kind, no sacrifice is too great."
"I wonder if Sombra thought the same thing wen he enslaved all those ponies in the-" Sunny began to calm down as he slid another insult over to Alister.
"Don't you dare compare me to that monster!" The grey unicorn snapped, now pushing back. "Tell me what you know, or else-"
"Or else what!?" Sunny pushed back again, now anger flaring from both unicorn stallions.
"What in tarnation are ya'll doin' in here?!"Applejack asked, whipping the sleep from her eyes. "Don't ya know we need ta be getting our rest? We only have a few days till winter wrap up. And we'll need all our rest for it. This winter's been a doozy."
Alister quickly regained his composure and shot Applejack a sincere smile as he bowed to her, took one of her hooves in his and kissed it. Sunny's face went red again as he but his lip, his blood beginning to boil again." My sincerest apologies for wake you, Miss Applejack.I came down here to get something to drink and accidentally woke Sunny up. He came to check on me."
"Well ain't that Sweet of ya" Apllejack shot Sunny a half wake smile. "But ya don't need ta worry 'bout Mr. Alister. He's a big, strong Royal guard and can more then take care of himself. We ah'll could sleep real easily with him around. Now you two go on and get back to bed."
Applejack let out a yawn as she climbed the stairs, heading back to her room. Once her door was shut, and both the unicorn stallions could hear the lock click into place, they let out a held breath.
"Lying to the mare who offered you lodging?" Sunny said in a low tone. "Not very much like a 'Royal knight', are you?"
"Lying to her whole family about where you've been" Alister struck back. "Not very much like a grateful guest, if you ask me. And you've been here longer then I have. I wonder just how many 'lies' you've told them."
Sunny never turned back around to face Alister, fighting the urge to slug him right across his muzzle. Exhaustion was setting in, the intensity of the conversation was begining to take it's tole on the yellow unicorn. "I'm going to bed. Sit here and think whatever you want. Spend your vacation doing whatever you want. But if you hurt the Apples, in any way, or put them in harm's way, you'll spend the rest of your vacation in the Ponyville hospital. Got it?"
Alister remained silent, the yellow unicorn let out a slight yawn and started for bed. But as Sunny reached the doorway to the kitchen and was about to ascend the staircase, Alister shot out one last comment. "I will find out the truth. I will protect the good ponies of this town. No matter the cost. You can either work with me, or stand out of my way. But if I find out you are involved, and you are hiding something from me, I will personally put you behind bars."
Sunny wanted to shoot back a few more comments, but another yawn overpowered him. So I he simply told Alister "whatever." And began the long journey back to his room and into bed.
Alister sat there all alone in the kitchen, he looked at his glass of water. The reflection of his eye was the same as it always was as it looked back at him. To everypony else who saw his reflection, they saw Alister. A Royal guard of high standings, who had achieved much in his few years of service, and would do anything to keep the peace... This was not what Alister saw... No. For years, ever since the accident, the expert tent that went wrong and almost ruined his entire life, all he could see when he looked at his reflection was the monster. A reptilian like green eye starring back at him. Alister forced himself to look away as his heart rate spiked for a moment. A wicked chuckling rang in his ears...
"No matter the cost!" The voice echoed Alister's words. "Isn't that right, Alister?! Ha ha ha! NO MATTER THE COST! NO MATTER THE COST!!! NO MATTER THE COST!!! BWA HA HA HA HA!!!"