Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Hero at a Party

“And a little bit of vanilla...” Pinkie muttered to herself out loud as she added the ingredient to her mixing bowl. She had been hard at work all day, first packing for her trip to Manehatten, then picking out the perfect present for the special birthday pony, after that she went hard at work on the extra special birthday cake. “Add in a hoof full of chocolate chips.... then mix well!”

Walking into the back end of Sugar Cube Corner, a slightly worried Applejack looked around for her pink friend. “Hey Pinkie... Ugh, this ain’t ah bad time ya talk, is it?”

“For one of my bestest-best-possible-distant-cousin-best-friend, there’s never a bad time!!” Pinkie replied with a great big smile as she began mixing the batter. “I’m just making a super-dooper special birthday cake! What’s on your mind? Are you hungry? It’s happy hour half off cupcakes. Normally it’s only from 2-5, buuuuut I think I could pull a few strings for you.”

“Thanks Ah mighty bunch, Pinkie” Applejack gave the pink party pony a weak smile as she removed her Stetson hat and held it over her chest. “But ah actually came here ta ask ya fer some advice.”

“Sure thing! I’m all ears” Pinkie began pouring the batter into cake pans as she continued to listen.

“Well... ya see, Sunny’s been awful down since his trip ta th’ Dragon Lands. He told me what happened, ‘bout the spout he had with his old friend and what not. And, well, ah was wonderin’ if ya had any idea on how ta cheer him up.”

After putting the filled cake pans into the oven at 350 degrees, Pinkie zoomed across the room and put a hoof around Applejack’s shoulder, a confident smile on her muzzle as her relaxed eyes met Applejack’s surprised look. “I have just the ticket to turning Sunny’s frown upside down. Tell him I need his help and to meet me at the train station in about two hours.”

“Thanks, Pinkie” Applejack began to relax, not even questioning the party planner pony. If there was anypony who could brighten somepony’s day, it was Pinkie. “Ah owe ya one.”

After Applejack ran off to find Sunny, Pinkie poured herself a tall glass of chocolate milk. “It’s about time Sunny and I had another chapter together. I was starting to think the writer didn’t like me.”

(https://youtu.be/ZCxJN7lD72A)

As the train traveled down the tracks from Ponyville leading towards the city of Manehatten, Sunny couldn’t help but stare out the window and let his mind go blank. He had felt just numb ever since he walked away from Torch. The yellow unicorn had been given his Black Knight armor back, but he honestly didn’t want it. But Sunny kept it close, having shrunk it down to a size that could fit a mouse, and carefully tucked it away in the rim of his stetaon hat. Part of him wished that Torch would seek him out to take the armor back, maybe then they could have another talk. But a larger part of Sunny knew that if the new Dragon Lord ordered for the yellow unicorn to keep the armor, then no dragon could disobey.

“HELLO! Equestria to Sunny! You in there?” Pinkie Pie continued to call out to her friend as she waved a hoof in front of his blank gaze.

“Oh, Ugh, sorry Pinkie” Sunny snapped himself out of his daze and back to the present. “What were ya sayin’?”

“I was saying that this is going to be the greatest birthday surprise ever!” Pinkie now cheered out loud, catching the attention of several ponies sharing the same train car.

“Ugh, why?” Sunny was cautious to ask, afraid Pinkie had told him already. He didn’t mean to be rude, but his mind was... just in other places right now.

“Weeeeell” Pinkie’s smile grew even wider as she pulled an outfit out from behind her and flung it over herself, some how doing a quick change into the outfit. The costume was a tight fitting body suit that only left Pinkie’s tail, face, and a lock of her mane exposed. It was white in color with purple arrow designs all over it. “I’m going to surprise the birthday filly by appearing as her favorite comic book super hero, Fili-Second! Which I’m super super lucky that the actual Fili-Second and I look so much alike and that I already move really super fast!”

A thought brought a smile to Sunny’s muzzle. “Ah wonder how fast you would go if ya ever tried coffee.”

Pinkie chuckled lightly at the notion. “Yeah, we won’t go there....”

Shaking his head a little, trying to get the frightening image of Pinkie on caffeine out of his head, Sunny thought of something else. “So how do ya know this filly again? Did she use to live in Ponyville or something?"

“Actually, I met her and her parents at Feather Weight’s birthday three months ago. They were really impressed at my enthusiasm and how much I looked like the comic book hero, and asked if I was available for their daughter’s birthday!” Pinkie started to explain. “They insisted on decorating the place and baking the sweets themselves, but asked if I would make an appearance as Fili-Second. The cake is an extra gift from her hero.”

The pink party pony then pulled out a file from her mane and passed it over to Sunny who began to look it over. “So the filly’s name is Dawn...She enjoys going to new places, trying new things, and meeting new friends. Her raising sun cutie mark represents her talent for brightening pony’s days, she lives with her parents in Manehatten down Horseshoe Ave, she loves ice cream with sprinkles, her favorite soda is grape, her favorite candy bar is Butterhoof, her favorite party game is musical chairs,... wow Pinkie, did you find all this out just recently?”

Giggsling at Sunny’s surprise, Pinkie took back the file and stuffed it in her mane. “No, silly. I do lots of research on everypony I meet, that way when the time comes to plan a party for them, or cheer them up, I can do it no problem!”

Curious, Sunny patted his chin with his hoof, an interning thought buzzing at the back of his head. “Say... ya wouldn’t happen to have ah file for me, would ya?”

“Course I do! How do you think I figured out you were the son of King Sombra?” Pinkie half laughed but stopped, her light hearted expression shifted to being sincere. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him earlier... I thought it would be best if you found out on your own.... are you mad at me?”

Shaking his head and giving Pinkie a half smile. “No ah ain’t, Pinkie. Don’t you worry none ‘bout that. Ya probably did me ah favor. If ya had told me, Ah probably would have had some sorta reaction like when mah Aunt Radiant tried to tell me who mah mamma was.”

“Thanks you” Pinkie’s shinning smile returned. “I’m glad we became friends.”

“Me too” Sunny smiled fully at Pinkie as he tipped his hat to her.

The rest of the trip to Manehatten was spent talking about other parties Pinkie has thrown for various ponies in town, ponies who moved away but still stayed in contact with her, and anypony who sent a letter to the number one party pony. Sunny was amazed at all Pinkie did, wondering how such a busy body could not only do all this party planning but also hang out with her friends, work at Sugar Cube corner, and go on friendship missions. It was almost as if there had to be more then one Pinkie pie or she had to break the laws of reality on a daily basis. Either way, Sunny’s previous thoughts about Torch and what happened at the Dragon Lands seemed to be pushed out of his mind when the two arrived at the Manehatten train station.

After hopping off the train, Sunny and Pinkie began their journey to the Manehatten suburbs, where Dawn’s house was. Pinkie talked about the birthday girl as they traveled by taxi. Apparently she’s also curious and adventurous little filly who loves books, especially comic books. Her parents themselves probably had a bit of influence with that, the father being an editor for a comic book company and the mother being an illustrator.

After the two travelers from Ponyville arrived at their destination, Sunny and Pinkie could hear a large commotion coming from behind the house, with the top of a bouncy castle just barely visible over the top of the humble looking home. As Pinkie knocked on the front door, Sunny’s eyes wandered, taking in the first sight of a ‘suburb’ that he had ever seen. It wasn’t spaced out like the homes back in Ponyville, but they weren’t all crammed together like the apartments in Manehatten’s city either.

“Well hello there, Pinkie Pie!” A friendly light blue mare with a golden mane pulled into a bun answered the door. “We’re glad you and your friend could make it, please come in.”

As Sunny walked in, he noticed a very long and narrow hallway leading down into a living room about the size of the farm house’s back at Sweet Apple Acres. At the center of the room was a table full of presents, which was when a sunken feeling hit the yellow unicorn.

‘I didn’t get her a gift!’ The panic made Sunny’s heart sink.

While waiting for Pinkie to finish conversing with the light blue Pegasus mare, by the name of Sketch Book, Sunny was approached by an orange earth pony stallion with a light and dark brown mane.

“Well howdy there” the stallion greeted Sunny, noticing his Stetson hat. “Guessin’ you’re Pinkie’s friend, right?”

“Eh, You bet, Sir” Sunny pushed the gift urgency out of his head for a second and shook hooves with the stallion. “Mah friends call me Sunny. Sunny Knight.”

“Sunny Knight, eh?” The stallion thought for a moment, his eyes drifting off into the distance as he rolled the name around on his tongue. “That’s an interesting name. Did you change it from anything, or did your parents give you that?”

“It was....” Sunny paused to think about it, but the memory of his name’s origin escaped him. When he came to, Sunny realized the stallion he was talking to was just starting at him, appearing slightly concerned. “I-I’m sorry. Ah had an accident ah while back and lost mah memory. Ah got most of em back, but some parts are still missin’.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that” the stallion apologize. “My name is Typo, I mainly asked about the name because I had mine changed. My parents were athletes and hoped I would follow in their hoof steps. My original name was Slam Dunk, but after I won an award for most creative short story in all Manehatten elementary and got my cutie mark, I changed it to Typo.”

Sunny looked to the stallion’s side and saw the image of a quill writing in a book. “Interesting. So, ugh, yer th’ birthday filly’s pa, right?”

“Yes sir!” The stallion seemed proud. “And I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter. She’s as smart and beautiful as her mother.”

“oh you! She got her crazy quirks from you! Mr. Introduce-my-daughter-to-action-style-comics-at-the-age-of-two!” Sketch Book noted as she and Pinkie joined the stallions’ conversation.

“Speaking of, when should I...” Pinkie started to say something then leaned over to the parents and whispered “you know!... change into something else?”

The parents both winked at her.

“I think after the little ones crack open the piñata, the ‘other guest’ should show up and do ‘her’ thing” the father suggested, then looked behind Sunny, as if expecting a third guest to be standing at the door. “Ugh... where is she?”

Looking at the clock then at her wrist where a watch magically appeared, Pinkie grew slightly confused. “I don’t know, she was supposed to be here already. Maybe she’s running late.”

“I hope she gets here soon...” Sketch sounded slightly worried. “I was just about to hang up the piñata.”

“Don’t worry, I know she’ll be here” Pinkie reassured the light blue mare. “This will be a birthday Dawn never forgets!”

As the parents went into the back yard to set things up and check on the kids, a knock came at the door. Thinking this must be the guest Pinkie and the parents were expecting, Sunny quickly answered the door. As he did, though, the yellow stallion came face to face with a rather depressed looking mailmare. Without saying a word, she tossed a letter to Sunny and then was on her way.

Taking the letter in hoof, Sunny noticed the letter was made out to the house’s address but was addressed to Pinkie Pie. The yellow unicorn looked around and quickly found Pinkie in the back yard blowing up and molding balloons into various animals and shapes.

“And here you go, birthday girl! A tiara, just like you wanted!” Pinkie giggles and passed a pink balloon hat off to a little light blue filly with a brown mane with a purple streak in it.

The filly’s smile stretched from ear to ear as she and her friends admired how it looked on her head, saying how she looked like a princess. While the fillies were busy, Sunny silently got Pinkie’s attention and handed her the letter. Pinkie took the letter and began reading it, her joyful smile quickly faded and was quickly replaced with a worried frown.

“Ugh oh....” Pinkie then grabbed Sunny and pulled him to the side of the house, making sure they were both out of ear shot. “We might have a teency little problem... I asked a friend of mine from the Manehatten theater to help out today by pretending to be the Mane-iac, then I would come in as Fili-Second and save the cake and presents. But she came down with the flu, and can’t make it.”

“Well shoot, what are we gunna do now?” Sunny asked, wishing he could help.

“I don’t know where I could find a stand in comic book villain... well, maybe just Fili-Second showing up will be good enough” Pinkie half convincingly stated. Hearing the mother call out to the kids, calling them to gather for the piñata, Pinkie sighed. “Guess I better go get ready. Gunna need to eat a lot of sugar really fast.”

As Sunny watched Pinkie force herself to bounce away, he wished there was something he could do. Anything, to help his friend. Out of the corner of his eye, looking through an open window, Sunny caught a glimpse of a framed comic hanging on a wall, in what must have been Dawn’s bedroom. The character on the front cover gave Sunny an idea. It was one of those ideas that was brilliant, but a risky and dangerous idea. Still, it was his best bet to help not only Pinkie, but the birthday girl Dawn as well.

As the fillies and colts gathered around and watched one of their friends bust open the piñata. With one final smack the brightly colored piñata burst open, spilling it’s sugary contents all over the ground! Before they jumped in to grab as much candy as they possibly could, a white and pink blur zoomed all around. Their eyes followed the blur around the back yard, until it came to a complete stop right in front of Dawn.

“It’s Fili-Second! The REAL Fili-Second!” The birthday girl cheered, which was soon joined by the joyful cheers and screams of the other young guests.

“Hey there kids! Somepony told me it’s somepony’s special day!” The costume wearing Pinkie looked around with her right hoof blocking out the sun from her eyes as she playfully looked around. “Now were is she...”

“Me! Me! Me!” Dawn bounced up and down with great excitement. “It’s me, miss Fillysecond! It’s my birthday today!”

“Well hello there!” ‘Fillysecond’ looked down and patted Dawn on the head. “So you’re Dawn, huh? Would you like to go for a little speedy ride?”

“I would love to!” The little blue filly was now bouncing up and down, unable to contain her excitement.

“NOPONY IS GOING ANYWHERE!” A deep matalic voice rang from atop the house, drawing everypony’s attention away from the super powered special guest.

As everypony looked up, the frightening image of a stallion dressed in all black armor, a long black flowing cape blowing in the wind behind him as he stood there, looking down on them. In a flash of green light, the stallion disappeared and reappeared next to the table where the cake and punch were placed.

“I, The Black Knight, have come to steal your cake and presents for... Ugh...” the armor clad stallion started his somewhat threatening speech, but forgot his ‘motive’ for his evil-doing.

Seeing what his plan was, Pinkie jumped ahead as if to stand between the birthday filly and him before calling out in a brave and confident tone “There is now way I’m going to let you steal this poor filly’s gifts and cake for your evil team of fellow criminals, Black Knight!”

“Yes! That’s it!” The armored stallion replied, before clearing his throat and restating “Ugh, I mean, No! No pony will stop me! Not even you, Fili-Second! Try as you might, you won’t stop me! The Black Knight! Bahahaha!”

Right as Pinkie and Sunny were about to break into an awesome action filled fake fight, the kids looking super excited along with their parents, Dawn surprised everypony there by stepping out from behind Fili-Second and walking right up to the Black Knight, a huge smile on her muzzle. Looking from Pinkie then back to Dawn, the Black Knight just stood there, trying to seem more intimidating then he actually was. But all bets were off when the little filly spoke up.

“Would you like to have a slice of cake, Mr.Knight?” Dawn asked, her eyes glistening at the Black Knight, an innocent, and very sweet smile still on her muzzle.

“Er... I don’t think you understand, little girl! I THE BLACK KNIGHT WILL-“ Sunny started to speak in his deep, intimidating voice once more.

“You don’t have to act like a bad guy anymore” The filly interrupted Sunny’s deviant rant.

“Act? What makes you think this is all an act?!” Sunny asked, hoping she didn’t see through his disguise that easily. He was, after all, the actual Black Knight.

“Because, you don’t seem like a bad guy” the little filly started to say. “I read every comic you were in, but from the first one where you defeated the Power Ponies but let them escape, how you rescued humdrum from a collapsing building a few issues later, and how you keep to a code of honor even though you work for the bad guys. Looking at you right now, I don’t see any real anger or anything evil. I think deep down you don’t want to hurt anypony, you just want what anypony wants, friends.

“So would you like a slice of cake? And maybe you can join us for some party games?” The sweet light blue filly asked again, then broke eye contact with him for a split second. “And maybe... maybe ‘I’ can be your friend... if you want.”

Sunny couldn’t move. He just continued to stare down at the adorable little filly as she faced him with no fear. Sunny knew his Black Knight armor was very frightening and intimidating to say the least, and even though the Black Knight was animated into the Power Pony comics, he knew a lot of ponies feared the black armor wearing stallion. Yet, this little filly stood before him, looked him in the eye, the one place his armor didn’t shield, and not only told him he wasn’t bad, but that she also wanted to be his friend!

Lifting one hoof up to his mouth piece, shifting it and removing the piece from his muzzle, Sunny revealed the face of the Black Knight to the little filly and her guests. He smiled down at Dawn and spoke in a more relaxed and natural tone “I’d like that, to be your friend, that is. And yes, I’d love some cake. Thank you.”

With that, everypony, the foals, the parents, and Pinkie as well, all cheered. Everypony except Dawn’s parents who turned to each other with uneasy looks upon their muzzles.

After the cake was cut and passed around, Dawn insisted on sitting between Fili-Second and the Black Knight. As they enjoyed cake, Dawn could tell something was on the Black Knight’s mind.

“What’s the matter, Mr. Knight?” The light blue filly asked.

“What do you mean? Nothing’s the matter.” Sunny tried to tell her, but looking at Dawn’s expression, he could tell she wasn’t buying that. With a sigh, Sunny put his slice of cake down. “I didn’t want to think about it, what with this being a joyous occasion and all, but.... I have this friend.”

“Go on” Dawn scooted closer to Sunny, her full attention on him.

“And... he and I... well you see...” Sunny eventually found his words and began to explain what happened between him and Torch. Starting with how he and Torch used to be close when they were younger, including what happened in the Crystal Empire, leading up to when Sunny left the battle and his armor behind. “Later, I got a package from the new Dragon Lord, Ember, and it turned out to be my Black Knight armor.”

“But Torch still doesn’t want to talk to you?” Dawn asked having listened and taken to heart everything Sunny told her.

“Right... I feel like I’ve not only failed my home land, but one of my oldest friends as well” Sunny spoke from the heart.

“1000 years is a long time to be gone”Dawn commented, her tone very light. “But, you know, you shouldn’t give up. Keep trying to talk to him.”

“Easier said then done” Sunny noted as he took a small sip of soda that Pinkie offered him. “Dragons can be stubborn, trust me. And Torch was always the most determined, most thick headed and hot tempered dragon I knew.”

“But you saw the good in him” Dawn said with a small smile.

“True...” Sunny had remembered when he offered to help the grumpy little dragon train. The unicorn prince saw great potential in Torch and wanted to help him raise to greatness.

“You should never give up on your friends” Dawn started to say, then remembered a quote. “ ‘Friendship isn’t always easy, but it is worth fighting for.’”

That quote sounded really familiar to both Pinkie and Sunny.

“At least that’s what Princess Twilight told my class when she came for a visit” Dawn explained.

Chuckling a little, Sunny looked down at the little filly, and couldn’t help but notice her balloon crown was deflating. “Do you want to be a princess when you grow up?”

The little filly’s eyes grew twice their size as she saw stars. “I would love to! To live in a castle! And have fancy dresses! Visit all kinds of exotic places, meeting ponies of all kinds! And make lots and lots of friends!”

Laughing a little at her enthusiasm, Sunny removed his helmet and let his orange mane flop around. “Well a princess needs a proper crown, right?”

Everypony watching now, Sunny closed his eyes and focused his magic on the ground in front of him. With a focused blast of magic, a bright light appeared in front of Dawn. She tried to watch what was happening, but the light was hard to stare at. Almost like looking at the sun. In a moment, the light dimmed, and revealed what Sunny had done. Once again, everypony was in total awe as Sunny levitated something off the ground.

The item in question, that Dawn couldn’t take her eyes off of, was a tiara made entirely of crystal! Light green in color, and reinforced by magic to not break, the tiara shinned like diamond in the setting sunlight. The edges where it would sit upon her head were smoothed, with the only slightly jagged pieces being three gem like crystals of slightly different color that rested atop of the piece. It was a work of art that would take most ponies days to craft. But having been raised in the Crystal Empire, not only was Sunny skilled with Crystal magic, but could draw power from his own heart. If the little filly had not touched him as she did, Sunny would never have been able to make the jewelry half as well as he did.

“I can’t say what the future holds...” Sunny started to say. “But I can say this, if you do become a princess, I think wherever you rule, will be in good hooves.”

The little blue filly could hardly breath as the Crystal tiara was placed on her head. Everypony watched her for a moment, waiting for a reaction, then the little filly burst out with tears of joy as she jumped up and hugged Sunny.

“Thank you so much Mr. Knight! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Dawn started screaming in a high pitched voice, full of joy at her birthday gift.

Not long after, Dawn’s parents called everypony over so the birthday girl could open her gifts. Sunny sat back and watched as the sweet little filly opened gift after gift, thanking the pony who’s name was on the tag. Among the items were things like comics, books, some hair bows, a dress, and a few stuffed animals. Pinkie slipped her gift in, which appeared to be just a card. Only upon opening, Dawn looked in awe at a set of three tickets to the Grand Galloping Galla! One for her and each of her parents! When she got to her parent’s gift, though, everypony moved in to see what the couple had done this year.

Carefully removing the packaging, Dawn opened up a flat and wide box to find yet another amazing treasure she would value for years to come.

“What is it?” A colt asked from the crowd, unable to see the actual gift.

Lifting the gift up, Dawn revealed a set of three, hot off the presses, first edition comics. But not just any comics, they appeared to be a new series of comics that branched off the Power Pony comics called “Young Power”, with several young masked hero’s on the cover. One of them looked almost just like Dawn herself!

“No way!” Another colt spoke up. “So the rumors about it were true!?”

“Super cool!” A filly from the crowd commented.

“Can I read them after you?!” Another filly asked.

“Sure! We can all read them together!” Sunrise suggested.

“How about another slumber party?” One of the fillies suggested.

“Yeah! We can bring all our power pony comics, too!” The first colt cheered, excitedly.

“But can we just call it a ‘sleep over’?” Another colt asked. “‘Slumber party’ sounds super girly.”

As the young ponies began looking over the new comics and making plans about when too have the sleep over, Typo tapped on Sunny’s shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Nodding and following the writer, Sunny was sure to casually slip away without anypony noticing. The armor wearing stallion followed Typo into the house and down another narrow hallway, and into what must have been an office. Once inside, Sunny was amazed at what he saw.

Hanging around the room were sketches of comic book hero’s, notes that had string leading form one pinned item to another, as well as various framed comics. One, Sunny recognized as being the one he saw from outside.

‘So it wasn’t Dawn’s room I saw, it was her parent’s office’ Sunny thought to himself, but was glad everything still worked out in the end.

After shutting the door behind his wife, Typo cleared his throat, catching Sunny’s attention. “Sunny.... we know you’re the ‘real’ Black Knight, and not just another cosplayer.”

“What makes you say that?” Sunny was trying to act dumb, but his defenses were up.

“We went to the Crystal Empire some time ago to take part in the festival” Sketch Book started to explain.

“I wanted to hear about some the legends the Crystal Empire had, ones Equestria might have lost over the past 1000 years but they were able to preserve. Something to give me some fresh, new ideas” Typo noted.

“As well as some fresh designs that I could use as inspiration for my drawings” Sketch Book added.

“And one legend kept coming up, one that everypony seemed to remember” Typo continued. “The tale of the Black Knight.”

“We had been bouncing ideas off each other of what HE might have looked like or how he would act, then you showed up at the jousting tournament” Sketch Book went over and grabbed one of her books from off the shelf and began flipping through it.

“We were amazed that such a legend was true, and taken back by your amazing looking armor and skill that we just had to put ‘the Black Knight’ in our comics” Typo looked partly ashamed as his wife showed her sketches to Sunny. They all were of the Black Knight in various poses and slightly different armor styles.

“See... we gathered very little about the Black Knight other then how his armor was made of dragon scales, impervious to fire, and how he could control dragons at will.” Sketch started to explain.

“So we... made him a villain...” Typo looked nervous and slightly ashamed.

“It was only later, when we went back to the Crystal Empire to gather more ideas did we find out all the good things the Black Knight had done.” Sketch Book continued to explain.

“I guess what we’re trying to say is... we’re sorry for making you a villain in our comic” Typo sighed and hung his head, unable to look Sunny in the eye.

Sunny eyed the sketches, writers notes, and various papers scattered all over the office. It would be what Rarity calls ‘controlled chaos’. Looking once again upon an issue of the Power Ponies where the Black Knight was with them on the cover, Sunny half smiled as he released a sigh.

“W-we plan to make it up to you though, we can-“ Typo started to say but was interrupted.

“It’s ok, Mr.Typo” Sunny spoke up, his voice was light and relaxed as his eyes wandered over to the couple. “I don’t want to stifle your creativity. Besides, if a wonderful filly like your daughter likes the Black Knight the way he is, then he’s ok in my books. Villain or not.”

The couple seemed relieved to hear what Sunny had to say, and they both promised to keep his secret if he offered to explain to them what was ‘really’ going on, why had the Black Knight attacked the prince, what were his connection with dragons, ect. Sunny told them that he would love to sit down and talk with them some time about it, and to write to him when they got a chance.

The rest of the party began to wind down, guests beginning to leave one right after another, with Pinkie (who changed out of her Fili-Second outfit) and Sunny being the last ones to wave goodbye to their new friends as they left Dawn and her family behind, making their journey back to Ponyville.

On the train ride home, a thought kept buzzing around in Sunny’s head. He wanted to ask Pinkie Pie something, but couldn’t quite spit it out.

“Thanks for doing that, Sunny” Pinkie shot him a huge smile. “I didn’t want you to have to dress up in your armor, but because you did, Dawn was really really surprised! Did you know her parents worked on the Power Pony comics?”

“Yeah, they told me that” Sunny didn’t go into full detail of what he and her parents talked about, but it wasn’t really needed. “Pinkie, can I ask, why did ya bring me along? Ah mean, don’t get me wrong, ah had ah wonderful time. But why me?”

Taking a deep breath, Pinkie calmed down a little and lowered her voice. “Well... Applejack told me how down you were because of Torch, and parties always make me feel better. That, and Dawn’s talent is helping to make others happy. Her talent’s similar to yours, finding the good in anypony or anything.

“I had a feeling she might help you if you just sat down and talked to her. And it makes her feel good to help others, too” Pinkie smiled at Sunny.

Feeling a great weight off his chest, Sunny leaned over and gave Pinkie a great big hug. “Thanks Pinkie....”

Returning the hug without hesitation, Pinkie replied “No problem, Sunny. That’s what friends are for...”

Back at Dawn’s parent’s house, while the little filly was fast asleep in her bed, her Crystal tiara laying flat on her night stand next to her, her parents were busy working on something they wished to keep secret from their daughter.

“Where do you think they are now?” Sketch Book asked as she prepared the envelope.

“Last I checked they were still in town” Typo replied as he quickly finished a letter, signing it for both him and his wife “Done.”

Pausing for a moment, Sketch looked to the ground, unable to meet her husband’s gaze. “Is this really the right thing to do? I mean... I feel so bad for the comics still...”

Nuzzling his wife lovingly, Typo tried to reassure her. “This ‘IS’ the right thing to do. If all goes right, we’ll help three ponies, not just one or two...”

With that, Sketch Book walked over to her pet pigeon and gave it the sealed letter, waking it up from it’s slumber. “Go find White Out and her husband, they should be in the city still. Go!”

With that command, the sleepy pigeon woke itself up and flew off into the night to deliver the letter....

Author's Note:

Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. One thing after another preventing me from writing/editing. But for all you local fans, hold onto your seats, things are about to pick up speed! Everything I promised and more.

Good things to come, but also shadows to follow

After all: the closer you get to the light, the larger the shadows become.

But have no fear, with friends close by, hoof in hoof, friendship breaks through the darkest night, and brings out the good in us all.