Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Smoke and Mirrors, no Tricks

Unable to shake Kibitz out of his 'chilled-out' funk. Luna resorted to waiting until nightfall to find her sister within the dream realm. The day was long and seemed to pass very slowly. Possibly because Princess Luna's mind was occupied with great confusion over what Radiant Hope had written to her sister.

'It just doesn't make sense...' Luna began thinking as she took another deep breath, forgetting she was in a meeting with the Canterlot royal guard trying to figure out a solution to the riots in the major cities. The guards paused and just shot princess Luna a concerned look before pressing on, knowing the princess of the moon was under a great deal of stress. 'Radiant said he doesn't fully remember 'who' he is, yet he goes and makes a Solar eclipse? Was he provoked and needed to show his power?hmmmm... no. The Eclipse was too pure for that. More or less he was probably showing somepony what he can do.... but where is he? Manehatten? Vanhoofer? I doubt Canterlot or the Crystal Empire, he would have been spotted.... and why remain in hiding?'

After the meeting, which only ended when the guards suggested more reinforcements around the clock in the various cities, to which Princess Luna agreed and signed for, the lunar princess rushed though her other duties and anxiously awaited for the time when she would lower the sun and bring forth her Moon to begin the night. She had to hit the ground running if she was to find her sister's dream to tell her about Soleggiato.

Feeling slightly impatient, Princess Luna decided to lower the sun and bring forth the night about an hour or so early. No pony questioned her, most simply just assumed they lost track of time and shifted over to their nightly business. Retiring to her room, Princess Luna put herself in a meditative state to enter the dream realm. She found it hard to concentrate and calm herself, but was eventually able to put herself in that relaxed state and enter the realm of dreams.

Once in her element, Princess Luna went right to work in searching out her sister. Many ponies were dreaming hard that night, a lot of foals were suffering from an array of different nightmares, ones she couldn't leave them alone with and stopped her search to aid them. Time may move differently in the dream realm, but it still did move. Which meant Princess Luna was racing against the clock. And about 37 Nightmares later, Princess Luna was once again in her search.

It was hard trying to track her own sister within the realm that night. Normally Luna could just feel her sister's presence and home in on her dreams location. But tonight, something felt off... almost as if her sister wasn't dreaming at all. Before Luna could assume the worst, she sensed a flicker of her sister's dream and began following it like a bloodhound. The sense eventually lead princess Luna to a rather small dream bubble. Small, but it was her sister's. Focusing on the bubble, Luna was able to slide inside and found her sister rather quickly.

The princess of the sun was simply dreaming about being on a beach, possibly the beach on their secret island, but Luna couldn't tell. Only a small patch of sand connecting with the ocean and a small patch of sand with two palm trees actually existed in the dream, along with a rather gentle wave that came in and went out in a smooth motion. Princess Celestia herself was sleeping in a hammock that was tied to the palm trees, and swung gently back and forth. The princess herself appeared to be sleeping so hard that she was even sleeping in her own dream. Celestia was indeed in a relaxed, if very uneventful dream.

Stepping forward, Luna persisted to wake her sister with a gentle hoof. But her sister remained asleep. Taking a little breath, not wanting to wake her sister from her actual slumber, less Luna lose her chance to speak to her, the princess of the moon spoke very softly as she nudged her sister again. "Sister... sister wake up. I have to tell you something."

But Celestia just rolled over and fell deeper in her sleep. This annoyed Luna and it took a great amount of self restraint to not flip her older sister over in her dream's hammock.

Growing rather annoyed with her sister, Princess Luna rocked the sleeping pearl colored alicorn harder and spoke in a slightly louder voice. "Sister! We need to speak with you! It's about Soleggiato! Please, wake up!"

But princess Celestia just continued to sleep, slightly snoring and muttering as if having a dream within a dream.

Finally reaching the point beyond minor annoyance and no longer caring if she woke her sister up fully and forced herself out of Celestia's dream, Princess Luna started yelling in the royal Canterlot voice. "CELESTIA! BRINGER OF THE SUN AND PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA! WE, THE BRINGER OF THE MOON, COMMAND YOU TO AWAKEN FROM YOUR SLUMBER!"

This yielded little to a suffle from the slumbering alicorn princess and a few light snores.

Stumped for a moment, Princess Luna took a closer look at her sister. Grabbing Celestia's forehoof, raising it up and dropping it, princess Luna gasped. "Either my sister is under some sort of sleeping spell, or somepony'a slipped her a slumber potion!

"We need to venture to the island immediately!" Luna monologued to herself as she often did when nopony was around to listen.

Flying as fast as she could, the princess who ruled over the night and dreams of everypony in Equestria, made her way out of her sister's dream and through the dream realm back to her own mind. Princess Luna was so focused on her goal that she completely missed the two intruders of her domaine.

Two shadowy figures hidden behind a few dream bubbles, waiting to enter a certain pony's dream...

It had been a good long, hard day of working on the farm again, but Sunny was glad to say he was starting to get the hang of it. Tasks that once took him forever to complete and left him physically drained were done in no time, and he still had energy to spare. When he's not using that energy helping others or learning about friendship through the various adventures with his friends, Sunny enjoyed spending quality time with the Apple family. More specifically, a certain orange, blond mare with freckles and the most hypnotizing eyes the former prince has ever seen. And today, Sunny had her all to himself. But what worried him was what he had been planning all day on doing.

Taking Applejack to his favorite spot on top of the hill, just outside the west orchard, Sunny took several deep breaths as he turned to face the lovely farm mare. "A-Applejack... there's.... there's something I've been meaning to tell you..."

Seeing his hesitation and sensing the change in his voice, tone, and accent, Applejack just shot him a weary smile and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Sugar cube, ya know ya can tell me anything. What is it?"

Tanking one last deep breath, Sunny faced Applejack, having gathered all the courage he could muster, looked her in the eye and began his heartfelt confession. "Applejack... my real name is Soleggiato Cavelere, prince Soleggiato Cavelere. I ruled along side my father over the Crystal Empire 1000 years ago... my father is King Sombra...
I've... I've been afraid to tell you because I didn't want to lose you... Applejack, I... I l-"

"Oh please stop, I feel like I'm about to lose my lunch" a dark and sinister voice spat out in distaste at what he was seeing.

Looking all around, Sunny's eyes darted in every direction, trying to find the owner of the voice. "Who's there?! SHOW YOURSELF!"

"No need to use the Royal Canterlot voice on me, your majesty..." the voice seemed to echo from every angle replied. Then, as Sunny moved to protect Applejack, standing in front of her, grey smoke began to cover the ground like ash from an active volcano.

As the sky tuned black and the scenery seemed to vanish, leaving only the black abyss and the grey smoke, Sunny realized that he must be dreaming. As he finished that thought, a tall stallion wearing a top hat popped out of the grey smoke in front of him. The stallion smiled a toothy grin, flashing his sharp teeth at Sunny as he bowed and placed his top hat over his chest. "Hello again, Soleggiato. Or, may 'I' call you 'Sunny'?"

"Who are you? And how did you get into my dream?" Sunny's tone was hard as stome as he narrows his eyes on the grey stallion placing his top hat back atop his head.

"I am but a humble servant" the stallion replied. "But my master has been waiting to talk to you for quite some time. I believe you two may know each other..."

"You talk too much, Knightmare" a deeper voice echoed from above, shaking the sky like thunder.

Looking into the darkened sky, Sunny looked for the owner of the new voice. This pony he knew. It was somepony he could never forget, well, not for long. Somepony from his past, present, and surely his future. The same pony Sunny used to look up to, aspire to be, and even fought over 1000 years ago. His father. "Where are you, my father the former king?"

As if being summoned into the dream by his son's words, Sombra's face appeared in the black sky above, appearing to be outlined by shifting clouds of smoke and shadow. His eyes mad of stars set ablaze as he looked upon his son. "I am still King. But my crown holds little importance compared to your safety, my son the prince."

"Former prince" Sunny reversed his father's own response. "Are we finally going to have that heart to heart talk? About why you enslaved the entire empire, betrayed our allies and put that curse on me and sealing me away for
1000 years?"

Sunny's harsh words were understandable to the shadow king. He had hurt Sunny, and his son did deserve to know the truth. "Yes, we will. You'll need to travel to the foal mountains. At the base I'll have a carriage awaiting to take you to my new castle, the former IronLock prison. I'll explain everything there. But right now, you are in danger."

Raising a brow and being a little more then skeptical, Sunny took in what his father said and focused on what his father seemed to be emphasizing. " 'In Danger'? From what, may I ask?"

"The princesses will come for you" Sombra started to say.

"Let them" Sunny spat out. "I have done nothing wrong, broken no law. They will have no reason to-"

"Listen to me!" Sombra's voice rose over Sunny's. Silencing the yellow unicorn and shocking him into paying full attention to his father. "It was 1000 years ago that I confided in princess Celestia, somepony who I thought to be my dearest friend. Only she planned to betray me, returning my body to shadow then sealing me away in the arctic!

"I could have forgiven that, or even just run away from it," the shadow king admitted, the image of pain in his starry eyes. "But one thing I could never forgive was what she planned to do to you... a halfling that she said 'didn't deserve to exist'..."

"Halfling?" Sunny repeated the confusing word.

"Yes... you are half pony, Sunny" Sombra continued, facing his son again. "But it is because of your other half, and the fear that Celestia had of you that... that pushed her to her decision."

"What do you mean my 'other half'?" Sunny's voice began to grown with his panicking concern.

"I overheard Celestia speaking to herself as she wrote a letter to her sister, as she often did" Sombra continued, ignoring his son's question momentarily. "She said that after I was dealt with... she planned to turn you into stone, and lock you away in the deepest and darkest corners of the Canterlot caves, where no pony could find you..."

"But WHY?! WHY would princess Celestia do that?!" Sunny started to scream, tears running down his eyes for some unknown reason. "What had I done?! And what do you mean I'm 'half a pony'?! I AM A FULL PONY!!!"

"No... I'm afraid you're not..." Sombra's confession felt harder then the many times he had rehearsed it, but it all needed to be said. "Sunny, my wonderful, kind hearted, smart son... I.. I am an umbrum..."

The statement came as a shock to the former prince of the Crystal Empire, leaving him nearly speechless. "No.... its not true... it can't be... Since when?..."

"My whole life..." Sombra admitted. "And I'm afraid, that makes you-"

"NO! NO! It can't be true!" Sunny fell to his knees, his front hooves covering his ears as best he could to block out his father's voice. "I'M NOT A MONSTER! I'M NOT ONE OF THOSE THINGS! I'M A PONY! A PONY! A NORMAL PONY!"

"Sunny please!" Sombra tried to reach out to his son, But Charming Knightmare was beginning to lose his grip on the dreamer, weakening their presence in his mind. "There is no time! You need to come to me! Find me in the IronLock prison! I can keep you safe-"

"NOOOOOOO!!!" With one loud, royal Canterlot voice scream, something deep inside of Sunny broke free, awakening from it's slumber. The side of his father that rested deep inside the happy-go-lucky pony had been released and was now fighting Sunny for control!

Sombra had remained in a meditative state as Charming Knightmare used the king's mind as an anchor while he carried them both into the dream realm to speak with Sombra's son. But when they were pushed out of the dream by the great force that the son had released, the grey unicorn's body quickly manifested and was flung into the wall. Sombra himself had jolted awake and was breathing heavily.

When Charming could speak once more, he turned to his king and asked in a weakened breath "what is... the plan now, sir?"

After collecting this own breath until he was fully able to speak, Sombra merely answered "we move to plan 'B'. I'll have somepony go and bring Sunny to me. And I know just the prisoner..."

Back at the farm, Applejack was having the most amazing dream. She was at the rodeo in Appaloosa, winning all kinds of blue ribbons, with Sunny and her family cheering her on from the side lines, when the sound of somepony awoke her from her otherwise perfect dream.

Shaking the sleep out of her eyes, Applejack quickly realized just who was making all that racket. Jumping out of bed and rushing out her bedroom door and into the room next door to hers, Applejack found Sunny shaking violently in his sleep, almost screaming 'no... no... it can't be true...'

She felt his head and was shocked to find he was colder then a cider cellar in the middle of winter, his body soaked in a cold sweat. She didn't know what to do but to try and awake him from his nightmare. "Sunny! Sunny wake up! Please! Sunny, Ah'm here for ya! Please wake up!"

She got her wish. But she would soon regret it....

Sunny's body ached as he found himself on all four of his knees, gasping for air, feeling like his body was half made of wiggly cotton candy and the other half peanut brittle. When he could gather his thoughts, Sunny took a few deep breaths and noticed the faint muttering of somepony else in the room. As he turned his head, his heart sank.

"No... please... anypony else... let this be a nightmare..." the yellow unicorn pleaded as his eyes fell upon a familiar orange farm pony. Her body was shivering as her glazed over red and green eyes darted back and forth. Moving closer to Applejack, Sunny put a hoof over her head to move her mane from her eyes. He wished she remained unresponsive, but the poor mare flinched as if somepony was about to hurt her.

Wanting to look away, Sunny couldn't help but notice something out of the corner of his eye. At first he thought it was his imagination. But a second glance not only proved the threat to be real, but more horrifying then anything the yellow unicorn had ever seen. Sunny was staring at what must have been his own reflection, but he couldn't be sure. The thing in the mirror didn't look like him, well, not fully.

But as he took several small foal steps closer to the mirror, with every action he performed the reflection mimicked it, the former prince's heart sank further and farther into his stomach as the details became more and more clear. Now just inches from the mirror, Sunny outstretched his hoof and touched it's cold surface. The hoof he thought he reached out with was nowhere to be seen, but in its place a smoky grey one resided.

Looking into his reflection, Sunny saw half of his face was missing, having been engulfed by grey smoke while the other had changed his eye. The eye that was once white and emerald green was now poison green and hot coal red, with purple flames emerging from the far corners of his eyes. It was then that Sunny understood what those purple flames were. They weren't some side effect of dark magic or some darker force that simply installed more fear... they were tears. The ones who used dark magic were in pain and couldn't cry, but instead released purple flames from their eyes, creating more fear from those who gazed upon the dark magic user.

Looking back to Applejack, Sunny's eye flames grew larger and larger as he kneeled down over the orange mare who was lost in her own worst nightmare. He could barely speak, but forced himself to tell her "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

There came a sudden knocking at Sunny's door, pulling his attention away from the fear stricken Applejack. The muffled voices sounded like everypony else in the house, but Granny's voice spoke up over the others. "Sunny?! You in there? Is everything ok?"

Looking from the door to Applejack, Sunny knew what he had to do.

He grabbed the black cloak he stored under his mattress, flung it onto himself, used what magic he could muster to levitate Applejack underneath his cloak, took one last look at his room, knowing that he had reached the point of no return, and with one large burst of energy, broke though the window and the wall of his former room. He knew there was only one pony who could cure Applejack, only one pony he could trust to save her.

After hearing the large crash, sound of shattering glass and splintering wood, Granny had Big Mac bust down Sunny's bedroom door. The big red farm pony did as she was told, tackling it down with ease, then stepped aside. The rest of the Apple family and Pappy filed in, only to witness a rather confusing scene.

Sunny's room looked like it had been attacked by a tornado! The bed was flung apart, the large mirror was shattered, and worse, a giant hole existed where his window unused to be! Looking around and calling out for Applejack and Sunny, the Apples began to worry for both of their safety. All except Pappy who seemed to just be staring at Sunny's broken mirror, and the hoof shaped indent in it...

Author's Note:

Big reveal! In the comics which connect to the show (I don't care what's the nay sayers claim, they do connect) Sombra was an Umbrum. For references, check out Feindship is magic issue 1, and Friendship is magic, issues 33-37.

Honestly though, I only found this out after I created and started writing Sunny's fic. I only went with him being half an umbrum because it will help others in the long run.

Funny thing, what came to mind when I did the camping chapter where Sunny told the story of the umbrum, was the part in Thor where Loki confronted Odin about being a frost giant. Where he stated that he was one of those monsters that they were told about.

Looking back, you'll also notice Sunny fainted a slight satisfaction from scaring others. But also something else, if you payed close attention.