Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Return of the King

It was a long ride for Radiant Hope as she was carried up the high snow covered bodies of the Foal Mountains, higher then anypony could travel on hoof. She was amazed at the strength of the ponies pulling the metal cart she was traveling in. But whoever designed the metal cart either focused too much on concealing those it was transporting, or happened to be a fan of pitch black darkness. The nearly all metal cart looked like it could survive being thrown off the mountain several times, with the inside looking as though somepony just added cushioned seating to it last moment, with a lantern hanging from the roof at the center of the cart.

The light source of the lamp started to solidify Radiant's suspicions on who 'really' wanted to see her. A green colored crystal fueled with unicorn magic filled the otherwise dark room with a frightening green light. The guards told we nothing, only stared at her with blank expressions and eyes of green and red. But the Crystal, and it's color, told Radiant exactly who she was going to see. She could only guess why he sent for her as he did, rather then seek her out himself.

Upon arriving at the Prison, the gates opened immediately without stopping for the normally mandatory check in. No pony would dare try and break into the prison now, not with what lay inside for them. As the hatch to the cart flipped open, a dark grey unicorn stallion wearing a top hat stood there, waiting for her.

"Miss Hope?" The stallion's voice was slick and sharp like a jagged piece of broken glass. He stood almost as tall at Princess Cadence, maybe off by an inch or two, with a white and dark grey mane. His face held a toothy smile, teeth jagged like a predictor, along with a pair of eyes like a snake. "My master is expecting you. Please, follow me."

Without hesitation, and despite the feeling Radiant was getting from this formal yet very haunting stallion, she followed him. He wasn't just going to have her brought here to hurt her. If that was the plan, why send a whole team to grab transport her to this place? Why not have somepony hurt her back at the Crystal empire? Somewhere between the two places? Or why not drop her off the mountain on the way up here? No, she specifically was being called here for some reason.

The iron fortress before Radiant was once an inescapable prison, now it appeared to have been transformed into an impenetrable fortress of iron and ice. Several guard towers stood high in the freezing sky, keeping a look out over the snow covered mountain side, thick spikes were planted facing out to keep unwanted intruders at bay, while chains that were used to transport materials for the actual purpose of the prison still hung up high, connecting the main structure to the various walls. Who knows what the 'master' has planned.

The guards at the door saluted the grey stallion with a top hat, then knocked on the doors to signal the ponies inside to open up. Slowly the large metal doors parted, allowing the warmth of the inside to escape a little, as if it were the breath of a large dragon as it yawned, instantly pushing the chill from Radiant's coat.

"This way, miss" The top hat stallion instructed, a smug grin still present on his face. "The one you seek is just down this hall."

"And who is the 'one I seek'?" Radiant asked, feeling the presumptuous statement was rather annoying and egotistical.

"Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answers to?" The top hat stallion answered her question with another question. "If I were you, I'd focus more of that energy on helping him. After transforming this place into his new palace, he's very weak. If we didn't find you as fast as we did, he might not have made it. But after hearing we found you, he held on."

Fear struck the medical mare as she started running as fast as she could down the hallway, quickly followed by the top hat stallion who seemed to be enjoying her panic. Radiant was so focused on getting to him, that she ignored all the frightening images around her. If the purple unicorn had payed attention, she would have noticed enough spiked ebony colored armor and weapons to outfit an entire army, a make shift steel forging area that was used to make the armor and weapons, teams of ponies training and practice fighting, learning to take on royal guards as well as being shown weaknesses in their moves, as well as large crowds of ponies who had just been released from their cells, ready for some payback for being locked up in the prison to freeze. But none of that mattered, the only thing that mattered was getting to 'him'.

Upon arriving at the end of the hall, Radiant was met by a simple metal door that once had the name 'Warden' written on it, but sense then the name had been scratched off. The top hat stallion reappeared beside the door, flipped off his top hat revealing a rather long and sharp looking unicorn's horn that glowed with a dark green magical aura, an aura that wrapped itself around the door handle and twisted it slowly, and just as slowly, pulled the door open with a long and drawn out creaking.

Radiant had grown annoyed by the top hat unicorn's antics and burst through the door as soon as she could. She frantically looked around, eyes darting all around, seeking 'him' out. The room appeared to be a rather plain looking office, with the only inhabitant being a dark grey unicorn sitting behind a rather large wooden desk. He had a buzz cut and a rather large scar across one of his eyes. She was slightly amazed that that eye wasn't dead from such an injury, he was very lucky to not have been blinded.

"Radiant Hope" the unicorn said, as he stood up, almost falling to his knees, but last moment he grabbed hold of the wooden table, catching himself. It was then that Radiant noticed the sunken look in the stallion's eyes, the slight stubble around his muzzle, and the unnatural whitening of what little mane he had. This stallion was very, very sick in deed. "Do not worry about me. It is my master who you need to worry about."

"Where is he?" Radiant asked, tired of playing games. "Where is Sombra!?"

"I'm right here..." the shadow king's deep voice seemed to echo and rattle the walls of the office. Moments after Sombra answered, the warden of the prison collapsed and passed out, body almost falling to the ground, but was caught at the last moment by the dark green magical aura belonging to the top hat unicorn. Turning her attention back to the warden, Radiant watched as something black began to seep out of his mouth, eyes and ears. A black smoke like substance that began to grow and expand, filling up the entire room, hiding the forms of both the top hat unicorn and the warden within it's dark mass. "Radiant Hope... my oldest and... only friend..."

"Sombra?" Radiant spoke his name without fear. Most ponies would be terrified at the predicament they were in, just the smoke surrounding them would be enough to frighten even the bravest of ponies. But Radiant knew who was behind the smoke screen, and feared him the least of anypony in Equestria. "Sombra, are you ok?"

"No... not ok..." the former king of the Crystal Empire spoke once more as his red and green eyes appeared in the densest part of the smoke. A face subtly began to appear as well, appearing as just a grey outline in the black miasma. "Need... help... heal me... like before..."

With less hesitation then when she ran through the dark prison to make it to the office, Radiant began channeling her magic as best she could from her horn then into the darkest part of the black smoke. The smoke itself began to gather at that dark mass, collecting itself , giving form to one that had almost lost itself. Radiant began to feel weak, light headed, but refused to give up. Despite what others may thought about him, Radiant knew Sombra better then anypony else. They grew up as kids in the orphanage, back at the Crystal Empire. They played together, ate together, did their homework together. They were like siblings. She knew there was good in Sombra, and couldn't figure out what had caused him to change as drastically as he did. But she would find out. It was that determination that pushed Radiant to try harder and focus more on healing the fallen king.

As the black smoke reformed and condensed into an actual solid form, Radiant's head had become too light, and the medical mare passed out. As she fainted, her body was caught by a strong, grey, front hoof that was connected to a pony who was all too familiar to her. The last thing Radiant saw before giving into her dizziness was Sombra's face. His eyes may have not resembled how they used to be, kind and gentle, yet strong and firm as emerald stones, but they were eyes unclouded by rage and anger. A pair of ruby colored eyes looked down upon the unicorn mare as she fell gently to sleep.

Sombra carried her over to the couch in the office and gently laid his oldest friend down, then covered her with a throw blanket. He would get her a much more comfortable one as well as the softest pillow in his new castle, as soon as he got the chance. Sombra ran a hoof over her face, brushing a strand of her mane off to the side. Radiant smiled and spoke his name in her sleep.

"Master" The top hat unicorn spoke up, still levitating a sickly looking Snowstorm in his dark green magical aura. "What should I do with him? Toss him off the side of the mountain?"

"Let's get one thing strait, Charming" Sombra's deep voice, despite being very weak, not only demanded respect, it held it with chains thicker and stronger then any the prison could offer. "I am not a monster. I know you are, and you became one for your own reasons. But I'm grateful to the colt for his sacrifice."

Snowstorm wasn't even able to open his eyes, but part of him could hear the conversation that was going on. He expected Charming to not care much about him once Sombra was released, but for Sombra to come to his aid? It touched the warden of the prison. That was something... something even his own father didn't do, which lead to his sentence as the warden of the IronLock prison.

"Take him down to the medical station, have Surgical put him on this..." Sombra then began scribbling some medications that he knew the prison had in stock. It wasn't the best, but it would do for the moment.

"As you wish, Master" Charming said with a bow as he placed his top hat over his chest then back to the top of his head, before disappearing in a flash of green light, taking Snowstorm with him.

Once he knew they were gone, Sombra took several deep breaths before casting a spell to recreate his old red cloak. A rather simple spell for a skilled magic user such as himself, but even it had a toll on his mind. He would have to take it easy before attempting more intricate and taxing spells. Despite the lightheaded feeling he was experiencing, Sombra stood his ground and cast another. This one took several bits of metal from around the room and condensed them, reshaping them into his former crown. As he levitated the crown to the top of his head, his black mane began to flow again, like a black mist. Taking another deep breath to steady himself, Sombra marched out of the office and down the hall that lead into the former prison. He walked tall and proud, as he had all those years ago in his former empire.

Royal guards under his spell as well as prisoners alike who had been occupied with training, smithing armor and weapons, or just consuming food and drinks, all stopped as the dark grey unicorn emerged from the hallway and casually walked over and up to the front gates of the prison, catching everypony's attention. The walls that once echoed with roars, chants, cursing, and yelling were now still and silent. Turning his head and looking at everypony in his presents, King Sombra made sure to meet everypony's gaze at least for a moment.

"I am King Sombra" he called out, his thundering voice rang out and spread to even the deepest part of the prison. "From this moment on, you will obey my every word! 'I' and your king! We all have a common enemy. An enemy that saw fit to imprison us in these cold walls! Cast us out of the home that was rightfully ours! They took away our rights, our possessions, and our lives! But now, I think it's time we took it all back!"

The silent prisoners began to cheer, the guards merely sat and listened to the king's speech.

"I will lead you into a glorious revolution to dethrone the Princesses and princess of Equestria!" King Sombra continued. "And when they are in chains, stuck below with not even the light of the sun nor the illumination of the moon to liberate them from the darkness, they will know what it was like for you! For me! And for anypony they would dean unworthy to walk free!"

The prisoners all cheered again, a slight tingling sensation starting to work its way in the back of their heads. Little did they know that a small charm was being cast on them, one that was written in a forgotten language and almost lost to the hands of time. Luckily Sombra had learned the language, even teaching it to his son. He told his son that it was their own 'made up' language, and to keep it a secret. That would secure his secret and make the counter charm impossible for anypony but them to cast. Originally, Sombra only wished to keep the dark spells between him and his son, so as to only be used as a last resort. Never before did Sombra ever believe he would be using it on a bunch of ruthless prisoners to influence them to join him and a full revolution. But many things he never thought would ever happen, have happened.

'I trusted you, and you betrayed me...' Sombra's thoughts fueled his inner fire as he called out to the crowd, finishing off the charm and sealing it within the backs of their minds. "We will rule Equestria now! The King has returned! LONG LIVE THE KING!"

"LONG LIVE THE KING! LONG LIVE THE KING! LONG LIVE THE KING!" All the now charmed prisoners as well as the hypnotized royal guards began chanting together in honor of their new king. The future ruler of Equestria.

The sun had set just a little while ago, But Sunny was too hard at work to notice. That day, while bucking several barrels worth of apples from the orchard, he had come across several short but thick branches that had fallen from the trees. Instantly his mind began to reel with the possibilities of what he could turn them into. But one idea stuck out above all the rest. And so, immediately after his daily chores were done, the yellow unicorn went right to work, trying to turn the chunk of apple wood into something he saw in his mind's eye.

Wishing he had taken some pointers from Somepony who was better at whittling then he was. He had already wasted most of the chunks of wood he collected, and now was working on the last one. At first, Sunny attempted to whittle the wood while holding the chunk and tools with his magical aura. But ultimately ended up using his own two front hooves. It felt more natural to do so. As Sunny continued to whittle away, somepony looked over and noticed the yellow unicorn, and thought to help him out by hanging a lantern just at the edge of the porch where he sat working.

"Huh? What?" Sunny half mumbled to himself, his eyes adjusting to the new light.

"It ain't ah smart thing ta be workin' with sharp tools in th' dark" Applejack said as she finished positioning the lantern. When she did, she looked down at what Sunny was working on. "What cha got there?"

Feeling slightly ashamed at his terrible work, Sunny hid the crudely done carving from Applejack. "Oh! Ugh, well... ah kinda found some spare chunks of wood in the orchard and..."

"May ah see?" Applejack asked, giving Sunny those innocent and sweet down home eyes that he could never say no to. Someponies like Rarity or Fluttershy could easily sway ponies with their eyes at will. But Applejack had a different way of using her feminine charm. She just had a way of making Sunny feel safe and comfortable, despite everything that is going on that should have made Sunny want to lock himself away and never come out. There was just something about her, the way her eyes just shined and glimmered like freshly cut grass but seemed more rare then the finest emeralds. Sunny just couldn't say no to.

Taking a deep breath to gather the courage, Sunny revealed to the orange farm pony what he had been hiding. The work was crudely done, so details on it were hard to make out, but one thing was clear to say the least. The figure carved out appeared to resemble a pony of some sort.

"Wow, ya'll did this?" Applejack asked, taking the figure in her hoof.

"Yeah..." Sunny admitted, his ears hanging low and close to his head. "It sucks, but it's th' best one Ah've been able ta do."

"He he. Well, none too bad fer ah pony who never worked with carvin' tools before" Applejack commented as she turned the figure around in her hooves. "So who's it supposed ta be?"

That, Sunny was grateful for his terrible work. He didn't want anypony to be able to recognize the figure yet. If he had made a perfect one, Sunny would have put it up in his room, simply to look at when he wanted to remember what the 'he' looked like. But thanks to the horrible craftsmanship on the wooden figure, Applejack would never be able to piece together 'who' it really was.

Judging by his silence, Applejack could only guess one of two ponies who it could be. And by the look of the basic build, she was guessing it was a male. "It's yer pa, ain't it?"

His heart sunk. Sunny could no longer look Applejack in the eye, shame and fear once again over came his heart, and his peaceful and safe world was again shaken. Seeing this, Applejack felt slightly bad for bringing it up, and tried to think of a way to lessen the blow.

"Ya know... ifin' yer pa ever came around, wantin' ta make right by you one day, he's welcome here anytime" Applejack tried to sound open to the idea for Sunny.

"If you knew what he did, you would never offer such a kind gesture..." Sunny spoke in a low and solemn tone, his head dipping down lower.

"Ah... ah know he hurt ya, and that's more then enough reason for me ta want ta buck him ta th' moon" Applejack continued to say. "But ya know... he must mean a lot to ya if ya keep thinkin' bout him, even after he hurt ya that much.

"Ya know Sunny" Applejack sat down close to the yellow stallion. "Sometimes, well, ponies make mistakes. Sometimes we do wrong. 'Specially ta those we care 'bout th' most. Ah don't think ah could ever forgive him for hurtin' ya as he did. But ya know, if he didn't, we might never have met. So, there's a silver lining."

That thought had never occurred to Sunny before. That without his father, Sunny would never had met Applejack, her family, or even his friends from town. He would still be living in the castle, alone, secretly miserable with all his duties and responsibilities.

"He... he always tried to be there for me" Sunny started to say, referencing to his father. "He was strict when he needed to be, but never cruel... he was my greatest teacher, my greatest guardian, and my best friend.

"He taught me how to use magic, how to laugh and relax, he helped me with my homework when Pappy couldn't" Sunny started to smile, remembering some of the old days.

"Pappy?" Applejack asked, "like ah Grandpappy?"

"Well, kinda" Sunny smiled and inched closer to Applejack as he spoke. "He looked after me when mah dad couldn't. He helped me with mah homework, with mah lessons, but ah sure gave him some trouble."

Applejack couldn't help but laugh at the last statement. "You? Cause trouble? Nah, ah can't see it."

The sarcasm was so thick you could cut through it with a knife. But Sunny was enjoying himself. "And you? Ah heard some funny stories from Granny 'bout you scarin' th' cows an pigs when ya'll were younger!"

The two farm ponies laughed and shared stories about their childhoods until it was dinner time. They couldn't even tell how long exactly they had been out there, just telling stories like a couple of old ponies reliving their youth. But as the two walked back into the farm house, Sunny paused and took a second glance at his crudely carved figure of his father. He hesitated only for a moment before going back to it, grabbing it, and placing it right at the front steps of the farm house, right next to the support beam, allowing the figure to gaze out onto the farm.

"One day dad, ah hope you can come here, be apart of this family, mah family, an we could let the past go..." Sunny spoke to the figure, knowing full well it wasn't his father. But he hoped that reciting the words then, would help to give him strength down the road when he confronted his father, King Sombra, for real.