//------------------------------//
//  Uneasy Sleepers 
// Story: Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale 
// by TheothersideofSunny968 
//------------------------------//


Sunny was hiding in an alleyway from all the crystal ponies that were out and about. The Crystal fair was just hitting it's midpoint, and everypony in the Empire had come out too enjoy it. Everypony except him. Sunny hid out of sight, afraid that somepony would notice him. 

"Too many ponies around..." He whispered to himself, then thought of a way to hide himself better. As he looked around, he saw a stack of hay, a half empty barrel of crystal berry juice, and a clothesline with somepony's laundry hung out to dry. His eyes instantly zoomed in on one specific piece of clothing. A black and purple cloak. "Perfect!"

Looking around and waiting until he was sure that nopony would see him take it, Sunny used his magic to undo the cloths pins that held the cloak, then he jumped and caught the cloak out of air before it had a chance to hit the ground. As soon as Sunny's hooves touched the earth below, he draped the cloak over himself, covering every inch of his being, say for the tip of his muzzle. He double checked his reflection in a puddle and made sure no pony could recognize him before he ventured out. When he was satisfied with the slight adjustments he made, the yellow stallion began casually walking out of the alleyway and into the main town, heading towards the train station.

He had no idea how he ended up in the Crystal Empire, but Sunny didn't plan on staying for much longer. As everypony enjoyed the festivities the fair had to offer, Sunny only focused on moving as fast as he could away from them. But every now and again he looked up and saw how much fun everypony was having. He would catch a glimpse of families, groups of friends, and the occasional love birds... All things made him wish he was just one of them. Sunny was jellies that the crystal ponies could play and enjoy their day, not worrying about hiding, or lying, or covering up the fact that they were related to a former tyrant...He dropped his head and kept it down despite all the wonderful sounds and smells that surrounded him. Ponies laughing and cheering, the sweet scent of fresh baked crystal berry goods. It was all too tempting. But it was a world that Sunny could never return to. Especially now.

Somehow the world around the cloaked stallion drooped in temperature, snow crunched beneath his hooves as he returned to a place that he was familiar with. Looking up from his cloak, Sunny recognized the river side that was not far from Flutterhy's cottage. And there, not far from him were the three bully ponies, Score, Dumb-Bell, and Hoops, all still shivering on the ground, their eyes still red and green from the dark magic spell he had cast. 

Sunny recognized it from his copy of 'the Elements of Harmony'. It was the same spell that described Twilight's encounter with his father's magical door. Right now the three stallions were getting a taste of their own deepest fears, whatever they may be. Sunny's heart sank as he watched the three pegusi curled up on the ground. He felt terrible for losing his cool like that. And what's worse... He used dark magic. Just like what his father used on him.

The cloaked stallion bolted as fast as his hooves could carry him away from the scene. He had seen more then enough. Watching those three curdled up on the ground, suffering as they did, was far too much for the yellow unicorn. Sunny never wanted to use dark magic. It made him almost sick to know that not only had he used it, but he executed that horrible spell perfectly. 'Am I.... Am I just like my father?...' 

Before he could think further on the subject, Sunny smacked his head hard into something, causing the stallion to fall flat on his backside. Shaking. His head clear, he looked up and realized he had run right back to the Apple farm. He shook the hoof of the cloak off to take a good look at the arch that he ran into that served as the entrance to the farm. Tears began to build up as he thought about the place he had once considered a home, but now might as well have been exiled from. If Applejack and the other Apples knew what he just did... They wouldn't just turn their backs on him. They'd probably hand him over to the royal guard. Getting up and pulling the hood back over his face, Sunny casually walked down the dirt road and up towards the farm house, taking in the feel of the ground beneath with his hooves, and the smell of the trees. 

The orchard had somehow come back to life in his absences. The trees were alive and green with great, big, juicy looking apples just waiting to be harvested. The snow and ice looked to be completely gone. Had Ponyville gone through winter wrap up without him?

Sunny sighed as he pressed forward until he reached the edge of the orchard, and entered the open area around the farm house. 'It wouldn't surprise me... I'm not welcome here ever again...'

Dragging his hooves, Sunny forced himself up to the farm house, but rather then enter or stand at the front door, he decided it was a better idea to just peer in through the window, to keep hidden. As he looked through the kitchen window, he saw past the kitchen and right into the living room, where it seemed the entire family had gathered. Apple Bloom, Big Mac, Granny and Applejack were all sitting in a circle, laughing and talking about who knows what. But they seemed happy. As the feeling sunk in, the world around Sunny shifted again. Winter had returned, coating the farm in a thick blanket of snow, the apple trees were bare of leaves or fruit, and the wind was cold enough to freeze the fur off of anypony. But the cloaked stallion did nothing as the wind howled all around, trying to rip the black cloak off of him. Sunny just sat there and watched, thinking about every mistake he had made that led him to this horrible fate.

"It's awfully cold out here" a relaxed and calm voice spoke out, catching Sunny off guard. "Why don't you go inside and join them?"

Sunny covered himself was best he could with the cloak as he peered around to see who this pony was who was addressing him. With one eye peaking through his cloak, Sunny saw  one of the two ponies he had hoped to honestly never run into. Princess Luna. Only her and her sister, Princess Celestia, could possibly recognize that he was Sombra's son, having lived during the time of his rule. She stood there, unaffected by the ice and snow of the winter that blew all around them. It was then that Sunny realized what was happening. "This is a dream. It's all just a dream!"

"Yes, young one" Luna explained. "It is a dream, and one that bothered us greatly. We sensed your distress and came as quickly as we could. Tell us, why do you not go in there? Join the others who are enjoying the warmth and good company?"

Greatful that Luna must not have recognized him with the aid of his cloak, Sunny just hung his head as his eyes peered into the Apple's farm house. "I don't belong there... I.... I don't really have a home. At least not anymore."

"Everypony had a home" Luna went on. "This place must have meaning to you, or you wouldn't be here. What's stoping you from going back?"

With a heavy sigh, Sunny decided to open up to the princess, while concealing his face, hoping the dream would soon end and she would never find out his identity. "Have you ever done something wrong? Thinking it was the right thing to do? Maybe to help those you care about but.... But maybe for yourself mainly?"

"We would think everypony has" Luna replied, her tone still flat.

"Well... What if that thing you, er, well, I, did, was so bad that somepony got hurt. Not necessarily physically hurt. But... But you were hurt too, and... And it was more complicated then that..."

"Calm yourself, young one" Luna said as she put a hoof on Sunny's back.

"Princess, ugh, your highness" Sunny said as he took a step back, stepping away from underneath her hoof, not wanting her to pull the cloak off accidentally. "I... I have a lot of issues to work with... And I honestly doubt that they all could be sorted out through this dream like with Apple Bloom and her friends.... I'm not like them. My problems are.... More complicated. My whole life is complicated."

"Oh?" Luna said as she turned to face the still cloaked stallion. "Tell me young pony, what horrible, complicated problem could be so terrible that it keeps you from the ponies you care about? The place you, even in your dreams, hold dear to your heart?"

"I... I've hurt ponies..." Sunny admitted again, his voice almost too heavy to be heard. "I hurt them all by accident... But I only feel half bad for it. Part of me thought they deserved it. And that makes me as bad as...."

Luna remained silent, waiting for an answer. But after the world around her and the cloaked stallion began to fade, she grew concerned. "As bad as who, young one?"

"Somepony I cared about..." Sunny admitted. "He was always there for me. Raised me. He was so kind... But he changed. And now... Now I'm afraid I might be just like him..."

"We all have made mistakes, young one" Luna spoke from the heart to the cloaked pony. "Even the princess of the moon has made one or two. But what matters is that we work to make them right."

Tears began to drip from Sunny's eyes and onto the black ground beneath him and Luna. "I just... All I wanted was a place to call home. With ponies who care about me, who I can care about and be there for as much as they are there for me... I just want too be happy..."

The image of the Apple farm house came back into view, first at a distance and just a hazy image. Then as it began to clear up, the house became bigger and bigger. Sunny once again looked through the window and saw the Apple family once again in the living room.

"Are they your family?" Luna asked, taking her spot beside the cloaked pony.

"They took me in when I had no home..." Sunny admitted. "If I ever went back to where I was born and raised... I would only be looked at as a failure... Maybe even a monster..." He then slightly titled his head to Luna, who in turn looked down at him, still unable to see his face. "Honestly.... I wouldn't care if I had to pay the price for my failures... It's what I deserve... What I owe to others... But..."

Sunny turned back to the window, eyes streaming heavily from his eyes now. " But if they new... If she knew... It would break my heart... It would break her heart... What would she think of me?..."

"Do you really think that they would disown you?" Luna asked, concerned that the young stallion felt so strongly about that fear, and wanted to put his worried mind at ease. "I once attacked my sister and tried to concur all of Equestria. But I was forgiven. Maybe you could be too." 

The world around Luna and the cloaked Sunny shifted again, this time though, he was waking up. Things had gone as he had planned. Sunny made sure to keep himself covered by the cloak, even as the dream armed to end. The last thing he saw was Luna being pushed out of his mind.

"Go back home! Go home young one!" Was the lasts thing Princess Luna said as Sunny's eyes flickered open. The dream had ended.

The yellow unicorn pony was wrapped up in a raggedy, old tapestry that he had found in the castle. As Sunny looked around, he remembered that he ran off and took refuge in the castle of the two pony sisters. It was the same room Sunny had found his father in when he fist entered the broken down castle. The yellow unicorn had patched up the wholes in the walls a little bit more and had ventured deeper into the castle to gather some cloth to make a make shift bed with, as well as gather more fire wood. But it was the same dark and dreary room. Laying his head back down, Sunny watches as the small fire in the pit at the center of the room began to grow dimmer and dimmer. He levitated a few small logs and some straw onto the dying fire to extend its life a little while longer, wanting to stay warm in the otherwise freezing castle. 

It was still dark out, he had only slept through half of the night, and felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier. As he watched the fire grow once again, warming the room, Sunny covered himself again in the tapestry he was using as a blanket and thought about Applejack, back on the farm, warm in her bed. He didn't feel angry, jealous or any of the sort. Knowing she was safe and warm back where she called home, helped him fall right back asleep. But with no dreams this time.

-Twilight's castle-

There was a loud pounding at the castle's front door at what must have been 2 in the morning. Spike was able to sleep through it,  Twilight wasn't so lucky. The pounding was so loud and so persistent that it even made its way into the purple alicorn's dreams. Just before she woke up, Twilight was having a dream that she was helping Rainbow Dash rebuild town hall after Derpy and Doctor Hooves crashed a big blue box into it. Reluctantly, the princess of friendship flopped out of bed and dragged her hooves down the hall to the front door. Along the way, Twilight thought how maybe she should take Princess Celestia up on her offer for a few sentries to stand guard at the front doors at least.

The poundings on the front door never subsided, and seemed to grow louder and louder, sounding more and more desperate as Twilight shook herself awake and looked through the peep hole. She couldn't get a clear look, but from what the alicorn princess could see, the pony in question appeared to be Applejack. Twilight unlocked the door and yawned as she attempted to greet her friend. 

But before Twilight could get a single word out, Applejack rushed inside, running Twilight over in the process, leaving the sleepy princess flat on the ground as the farm pony began looking frantically around the castle. "Is he here?! Tell me he's here! This is the last spot in town! He has to be here somewhere!"

"Applejack" Twilight said as she pulled her self off of the ground and looked to her worried friend. "What the matter? Is 'who' here?"

"Sunny!" Applejack answered as she dashed from one decorative pot across the entryway to a potted plant a little further down the hall from it. "Ah've looked all over town fer that stallion! And ah can't find hide nor hair of him!"

"He didn't go back to the Apple farm?" Twilight asked, snapping fully awake with worry. 

"No! And I've been out lookin' everywhere fer him!" Applejack said as she dashed down the hall and began looking through the various rooms lining the hallway, Twilight flying just above and behind her friend, too afraid of being trampled again to walk on the ground. "Oh! He has ta he here!"

"How about I try a locator spell?" Twilight suggested. 

"That's a great idea, Twi!" Applejack said as she paused and looked over to her alicorn friend. 

It wasn't until Applejack paused and actually looked at Twilight, that the princess of friendship noticed how tired the farm pony actually looked. There were bags under her pink and puffy eyes, Applejack's mane was Rarity's worst nightmare, and her breathing was even more erratic then a pony who had just done the running of the leaves and beat the record in half the time. 

"Applejack, how long have you been out looking?" Twilight landed and put a hoof on the orange pony's shoulder.

The farm mare pulled off her hat, held it nervously in both hooves as she sat back on her honchos, and took a deep breath. "Ah've been lookin' fer him almost an hour after we finshed cleaning up the mess from the Iron Pony competition."

"And you haven't gotten any sleep? At all?" Concern weighing heavy in Twilight's voice.

"Ah can't... Now knowing he might be out there, in th' cold..." Applejack started to say as she put her hat back on. 

"Come on, I'll get the spell started, but it will take some time. Why don't you get some rest. Winter wrap up is tomorrow, and you're a team leader. You'll need all your strength to lead the ponies in clearing the fields." Twilight said as she lead Applejack into a guest room of the castle

"But it's all mah fault he left!" Applejack put her hooves down. "If ah had just listened to his crazy babble... Maybe he wouldn't have run off like that..."

"He has had a lot on his mind" Twilight added, thinking maybe she should have talked to Applejack about what had happened at the Crystal Empire. But she thought that Sunny would have opened up to Applejack out of anypony, and wanted to leave that up to him. "But I'm sure he'll be back. Sometimes stallions do stupid things. But I know he'll come around. "

As Twilight set Applejack in the guest bed and tucked her in for the night, the green eyes of the farm pony met Twilights as she asked "how can ya be so sure? What if ah scared him off? What if he never comes back?! What if he found his 'real' family and they are rich! With ah big house, and enough bits to where Sunny'll never have ya work another day in his life?!"

Twilight put her hooves on her nervous friends's shoulders and looked her strait in the eye "when we were at the Crystal Empire, the Crystal Heart showed Sunny what was deep his heart, when he was confused about who he was and where he belonged. Do you know what it showed him?" 

"...What?" Applejack asked as she yawned and forced her eye lids to remain open, her adrenalin slowly depleting.

"It showed him that what was important to him and what he could call home... It showed him Sweet Apple Acres, and Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Granny, and you, Applejack." Twilight smiles as she watched the orange pony's eyes start to shut.

A few tears ran down the sides of her eyes as Applejack drifted soundly off to sleep. Once her farming friend was  sound asleep, Twilight quietly left the room and galloped down to the library to begin working on that locator spell.