Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Celestia's Story Time Part 2

After taking a breaf interval, Princess Celestia set back in her chair, looked back at everypony who sat circled around her, not only Twilight and her friends, But her own son, Sunny, his friends, and two ponies and a bird who Sunny insisted sit in on the story telling time.

Twilight who still wasn't sure who the two ponies and bird off in the corner were who appeared to be taking notes on everything, leaned over to Sunny and asked "I don't mean to be rude, but why are 'they' here?"

Not really needing to look over at Thunder Veil, White Out and Feza, Sunny answered "I helped them, now they're going to help me, which will also help them in turn. Long story."

"Let's get back to the better long story!" Pinkie Pie interrupted, popping up between the princess of friendship and Guardian of Honesty. The pink party pony then held out to them a bag of buttered pop corn "hungry? Story time always makes me hungry!"

"I also have cucumber sandwiches" Rarity levitated a plate with the small snack sandwiches over to the others, to which Octavia, Derpy and Fluttershy all took one off the plate, thanking her.

"If everypony is ready, let's get back to the story" Doctor suggested. "I love learning secret parts of history, and this is historical gold!"

"Much of what came next most ponies know the gist of" Celestia states, her expression turning more forlorn and pained then before.

As everypony quieted down, princess Celestia picked up where she left off…

"The years had gone by so fast, already my Son, Sunny, had grown up to not only follow in his father's hoof steps, but greatly surpass our expectations. He was kind hearted, despite keeping most ponies at a distance, selfless, strong, smart, and wise beyond his years" I began to go in and on.

"Gee, what happened?" Thunderlane joked, eurning a nudge in his side by Octavia. "What? Just last week I bet him 5 bits he couldn't eat more pancakes then me."

"Yeah, but I won" Sunny chimed in with a sly, victorious grin.

"And you were sick the rest of the day" Thunderlane concluded, also smiling victoriously.

"Can we get back to the story" Twilight slightly hissed at the group of friends before smiling light a bright eyes angel at Celestia. "Please continue..."

Where was I? Oh yes. Sunny had grown up to be a fine stallion indeed. And it was around this time that a certain troublemaker first showed up, causing chaos in a small remote section of Equestria. It was the first sighting of Discord, the master of chaos.

He had shown up in Ponyville, which was a small town near our castle at the time, just on the other side of the Everfree forest. My sister and I arrived on the scene, ready to subdue the draconaquis, but his chaotic magic was something my sister and I had not encountered before. We couldn't even get to him, let alone use our combined magic on him. We were either slidding down soapy roads, flying into cotton candy cloud filled skies, or being chased around by giant limbed animals. It was then that my sister and I decided it best to use the elements of harmony. Together, we caught Discord by surprise and cast him into stone. With him as a statue, all he had changed to suit his image of perfection had reverted to it's former forms. My sister and I had no idea where the mixed up creature had come from, but we would soon learn.

I went to report the capture of the creature to my teacher, Star-Swirl the bearded, who, despite his standoffish attitude as of late, would surely be interested to hear about such a powerful being as the self proclaimed master of chaos. But when I arrived at his workshop, I was horrified at the sight. Everything was destroyed. Beakers, test tubes and bottles smashed, pages and scrolled ripped to pieces, it was a nightmare. Then something caught my eye. A small item no bigger then my hoof.

A madallion of some sort, with the head of a unicorn and the wings of a pegasus, made of dark silver and grey metal with a glowing red stone at it's center. All I had to do was touch it and I somehow knew all I needed to know about it and it's origin. I can't say whether it was the magic of the amulet, my intuition, or some other force. But the very thought forced into my mind made me to take a closer look at the room. I pieced some pages from Star-Swirl's jornel back together, and in those pages my fears were confirmed. My teacher, Star-Swirl the bearded, world renown wizard and peace keeper, had fallen mad with power and became Discord, the master of chaos….

Everypony looked at Princess Celestia with mouths dropped almost to the floor, well, all except Pinkie Pie, who continued to nibble on her hoof full of popcorn, and Fluttershy, who looked sheepishly around at her friends nervously.

The long pause interrupted when Twilight Sparkle appeared to regain her composure, then cleared her throat, catching Princess Celestia's attention. "Princess Celestia, are you telling me that one of my idols, favorite historical figures, and the greatest wizard of all time, not to mention your teacher, WAS DISCORD THIS ENTIRE TIME!?"

"Indoor voices, darling" Rarity patted Twilight on the shoulder.

The purple alicorn remembered where she was and in who's company she was, and felt instantly embarrassed by her tone. "He he… ugh, I'm sorry …"

"I'm afraid you are correct, Princess Twilight" Celestia answered her student, her tone and facial features the same level of forlorn. "Discord and Star-Swirl the bearded are indeed one in the same, but more like heads and tails on a coin. He is no longer just Star-Swirl. As for why I didn't tell you, Discord approached me not long after Fluttershy befriended him and asked that I keep his past a secret."

"Now that everypony knows…" Fluttershy started to speak in her usual hushed tone, catching the attention of her friends as well as the new Guardians. "Discord told me that a while back at one of our tea parties. I Pinkie promised him I wouldn't tell."

"I'm super-dooper proud of you for not breaking a Pinkie promise, Fluttershy!" Pinkie squeaked in, a smile splashed across her muzzle. "I kinda pieces it togeather after season 4. It was pretty obvious."

Everypony turned their attention to Pinkie now with confused looked.

"Season 4?" Applejack asked, not really knowing how to make a question to fit Pinkie's statement.

"And how exactly was it 'pretty obvious'?" Rainbow Dash made hoof motions to emphasize Pinkie's choice of words, ignoring her breaking the 4th wall again.

"We're getting a little off topic" Princess Celestia stated, collecting the attentions of everypony once again. "We still have some more to cover before I feel you all are up to speed. Now, where was I..."

After Discord was cast in stone, we gave him a proper place in the castle gardens, where my sister and I could keep watch over him. We hoped that one day we could find a way to turn him back into Star-Swirl, but for the time being all we could do was wait. My sister was a little more then taken back by what had happened, but knew that we needed to press on, and went right back to her duties as Princess of the night. With the loss of our teacher, I would have thought Luna and I would have grown closer, looking to each other for support. Equestria needed us now more then ever, and we needed eachother. But just the opposite was happening, and it took me 1000 years of looking back to see why.

As we went about our days of ruling Equestria, more ponies began to look just to me for guidance and advice, rather then my younger sister. I don't think much of how Luna felt about it all, I just stressed about how much work I was left with and how exhausted I was by the end of the day. There were many times where I gladly accepted the praise and worship, Star-Swirl told us to try and accept this humbly. But I too easily accepted more then my fair share of the praise and attention. But a place atop a throan is still lonely and stressful. There was really only one pony I turned to to help me relax and unwind from it all. My beloved King Sombra.

With Star-Swirl gone, I was able to move the magic portal mirror into my own secret room and use it to have Sombra and Sunny visit our castle, or vise versa, without others questioning it. It was like a breath of fresh air to dine with them, to play board games with them, to stroll through the garden, to just sit and talk about our day, ponies, even just share jokes with. They were my family, and they treated me like no pony else ever did, just like anypony else. I wasn't 'Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria', I was Celestia, Tia, or even just mom.

But that too would soon come to an end. One night, Sombra had come to visit with me, holding me, he told me that he and his bravest, most trust worthy guards would be going out on another hunt for Princess Amore in a darker, less explored part of the Empire's surrounding Arctic tundra. Part of me didn't want him to go, I was afraid of what might happen to my beloved Sombra. But another part of me wanted Amore found so Sombra, Sunny and I wouldn't have to hide anymore. We could be open as a family. What we always wanted.

"I wish there was a way I could help" I hold him, looking into his deep green eyes.

"Your place is here, it is my duty to find the princess" he told me, his deep voice smoothing over the worry in my heart as it always did. "I will find her. I vow on our love I will."

"Then we can be a family" I muttered under my breath.

Pulling me in closer to him, Sombra spoke in an equally low tone "we were always a family. You. Me. And our son…"

I wished that time with him never had to end. But I knew I couldn't keep him with me forever. I let him go eventually to prepare for his dangerous venture, wishing with all my heart that he would be successful this time. I don't know what happened that day, what he had found, or what lead up to it, but just two days after he left, word had gotten to me about something foul happening in the Crystal Empire. I tried to go through the magic mirror, but my mirror had shattered, meaning that the one in the Crystal Empire had been shattered on that end.

I called an emergency meeting with my sister and our captains in the royal guard, trying to think of what to do. We sent a few scouts out to survey the situation, but none returned. We assumed something must have happened, somepony or something attacked and seized the Empire while Sombra hunted for the Princess. After much deliberation, my sister and I agreed we needed to go to the Empire ourselves to survey the situation for ourselves. Our Captains thought we should bring some guards, but we reminded them this was something we were meant to deal with, as rulers of Equestria. With that, my sister and I flew as fast as we could to the Crystal Empire.

What we found when we got there left me speechless.

The lush green feilds that surrounded the Empire within it's Barrier had dried up, turned into a baren dry feilds of rock and dirt. Birds couldn't be seen or heard in the sky, the youthful ewes were nowhere to be seen, and the once plentiful bushed ,where the Crystal ponies picked Crystal berries, were nothing more then dried up, leafless sticks. As my sister and I causiouly ventured deeper into the Empire, we noticed the Crystal homes and buildings that once glimmered in the sunlight were now dark, jagged, sharp, and twisted. I wish it had stopped there, but as we approached the now frightening Crystal Empire castle, I saw a horrible image that to this day haunts my nightmares.

All the Crystal ponies were in chains, being forced to dig at the base of the castle, their usually glowing coats and springy manes had grown dull and sunken, the life drained from their eyes as if all hope had been taken out of them.

"Sister, look!" Luna caught my attention and pointed with her hoof to the castle's balcony. There, between two large pyres of green flames stood a dark stallion, red and green glowing eyes looking down at us with a burning wickedness about them.

I nodded to my sister, and togeather we took to the sky, flying to the balcony, ready to face the foe that was surely behind this corruption. For a moment, just as we were about to land on the balcony, I silently wished Sunny and Sombra were alright. Horror stuck me as my sister and I stood our ground ready to face the enemy, only to find the monsterous creature was none other then my own beloved King Sombra!

I had tried to reason with him, tried to ask what had happened, something obviously not being right. The Sombra I knew would never in a million years be that cruel, that enraged, or that deranged. He kept talking like I knew something, like I had gone behind his back about something, even mentioning a prophecy and having to help his kin. Inevitably, a battle broke out. As much as I didn't want to, it did. And as much as it pained me, I knew my sister and I had to defeat Sombra. My beloved Sombra didn't make it easy, but my sister and I had the Elements of Harmony on our side. Using their power, my sister and I turned his body to shadow and sealed beneath the Arctic ice that he had so often ventured out into. I don't know why the elements turned his body to shadow and others to stone, but everything has a reason, even if we don't understand what it is ourselves.

My sister and I didn't have a single moment to rest after our battle. Immediately after our battle with King Sombra had ended, something was triggered deep within the Empire. The ground shook violently as if in an earthquake, a violent green fire began to flair up around the boarders, and the sky changed from a dark brown to a blinding purple. To get a better look, my sister and I took to the skies, hoping a bird's eye view could shed some light onto what was happening. Once we reached a decent hight, though, we realized our victory was a hollow one. The Empire had vanished in a flash of green light, leaving nothing behind bup the circle where the protective some had shielded the Empire from the harsh Arctic surrounding it. Now fresh snow lightly fell on the open space as a storm seemed to come to an end.

We inspected the area several times over, even brought in geographical experts, great wizards such as Clover the Clever, and even saught out the Babayaga sisters for an answer. But it seemed that when Sombra was sealed away, he took the Empire with him. My sister and I had failed the ponies of the Crystal Empire, and I felt as though I had failed my love, Sombra…

Tears began to fall from Princess Celestia's eyes as she recalled and shared the story of that horrible day with everypony present. The princess didn't even know she was crying until Applejack offered her a light green handkerchief. Celestia smiled down at Applejack, took the cloth in her hoof and wiped the tears away.

"It was around that day that I confronted my father" Sunny spoke up. "I had just returned from an adventure to find the Empire just as you had, mom. I also confronted dad, but…"

"I know, Sunny" Celestia saw the pain in her son's eyes and didn't want him to force himself to speak more about it. "I saw everything in your dreams, thanks to my sister... I'm so sorry…"

Acting purely on instinct, Sunny ran up to his mother and gave her a large hug. Princess Celestia quickly returned the hug and held it there for a long moment. Everypony there, say for the two ponies and one bird who were recording all of Celestia's story, knew their pain, and stayed silent to allow son and mother to comfort one another. Pinkie, knowing this would happened, slid a stack of papers over to White Out and Thunder Veil. The stack was a copy of the first dozen or so chapters of Sunny's story to help get them up to speed. Discord had given it to the pink party pony some time ago at her request.

After a long moment, Sunny let go of his mother, and she of him. Sunny sat back down between Applejack and Twilight, Applejack putting her hoof over his, holding it firmly but gently.

"I think we're coming to the end of the story time" Celestia said as she wiped away more tears with Applejack's handkerchief once again. "The last part I'm sure Twilight has already shared so I won't take too long to tell it…

Months had passed since the battle at the Crystal Empire, and I had thrown myself into my royal duties to ignore and numb the feelings of loss. I not only had failed my subjects but I had lost both my beloved Sombra and my son, Sunny. My sister tried to comfort me, but she had never felt love like I had, which resulted in her just giving me my space. I felt alone, and did anything I could to releave that pain and emptiness. I received praise, love, and cheers from ponies who my sister and I ruled over before, but I felt I never gave it the credit it deserved. The attention and love wasn't as personal as the love I shared with Sombra or my son, but it was better then being alone and it filled the void, or so I let my melf to believe.

I began to do more for the land of Equestria, such as building a school for gifted unicorns, so young unicorns wouldn't struggle with learning magic as my son had, I oversaw the construction of several big cities such as the foundation for what would become Manehatten and Vanhoofer, and even defeated foes such as the evil changeling Queen and her hive, sealing them in a valcano. The extra work had been recognized and I was loved and honored in countless ways for my efforts in making Equestria and even more wonderful place. My sister, on the other hoof, didn't. Despite her best efforts of keeping the peace of the night, no pony had even taken into account her efforts at being as good a princess as I was. She didn't go as far out of her way as I did, or so I justified it to myself back then. That lead to more loss for myself. And more pain for those I held dear.

One night, or rather one early morning, I went to raise the sun to begin the day, but found that Luna had kept the moon up. I thought she simply lost track of time, or was busy with some other royal duty. I was about to lower the moon myself, it wasn't completely out of the ordinary for one of us to on a rare occasion perform the other's duties of raising or lowering the sun or moon, but just as I was about to end the night and begin the day, I was stopped.

"Don't touch my night" my sister called out, her tone sounding hard and sharp.

I turned to face her and saw a different look in her eyes. A cold look like I had never seen before. She had stood atop the double sided staircase, looking down at me. Ignoring her expression, I simply told her "It's time to lower the moon and begin the day, sister. Would you care to end the night?"

"No, I wouldn't" Luna told me, an answer I didn't expect. I believe she could see the confused look on my face, so she elaborated. "I don't wish to end the night because from this day forth, the night will never end. I will never lower the moon, and the night will last for all time!"

Having heard that, I assumed there was something bothering my sister, but deep down I didn't care why she was acting as she was. If I had gone just a little out of my way to talk to her, I know I could have saved her from such a fate that would befall her. But I didn't. I just simply stood tall and told her "Luna, you must lower the moon. Enough of this foolishness!"

"Foolishness!? Thou wishes to talk about foolishness, sister!? Thou art the fool! All thy care about is filling the void, thou had never considered what thou were filling the void with!" Luna began to spit out, her eyes became reptilian like, more vicious as she glared at me from atop the staircase. "We both are supposed to be princesses, the 'co-rulers' of Equestria, yet all thou does is hog the spotlight to make thyself feel better for losing them! Did thou ever think that 'I' wanted to be loved? That 'I' wanted praise? That maybe 'I' would like to be invited to a ribbon cutting ceremony, or a party, or even receive fan letter such as thee!?

"I realize now that there can be only one princess in Equestria! AND THAT WILL BE ME!" Stomping her hooves down hard, shattering the tile around her, Luna glared hard at me before a shadowy aura began to eradiate seemingly from the moon and circle my sister in a dark light.

I stood back and watched as the darkness was absorbed into her, changing her into a wicked mare of darkness who's fur was the same shade of black as a void, eyes vicious and reptilian, mane flowing like an aura of the night sky, standing just as tall as I was, with light purple armor that covered her.

"Luna, stop this madness! Just lower the moon and we can talk about this!" I realized too late that I needed to reach out to my sister.

"Luna?" The mare's vocie had changed just as much as her appearance. "I am NIGHTMARE MOON! And from this day forth, I will be the only princess who rules in Equestria!"

From there, my sister and I fought, blasts of magical energy shot from out from our horns, destroying most of our beloved castle. We took to the skies when we felt our magic was too equal to grain footing on the other. Both of us felt combining magic with airial flying skills would give us the tactical advantage over the other. Weaving in and out of our castle's spiral towers, my sister chased me, shooting at me with blast after magical blast. My plan was simply to wear her down and hopefully then I could reason with her. It didn't happen like that.

I was hit with a magical blast right in the arch of my back, I spiraled down and crashed through our castle's ceilings, landing with rubble all around me. I thought for sure that it was over as my sister loomed over me, flying above and casting a shadow over my weakened self. I felt drained from our battle, and unable to beat her on my own. After Luna, or Nightmare Moon as she called herself, flew away, I knew there was only one thing I could do. I didn't want to hurt my sister, but I knew the only thing I could do now was use the elements of harmony against her as we both had done to Discord and Sombra. I didn't know what they would do to Luna, but I had no choice, I couldn't allow Nightmare Moon to cast Equestria into eternal night.

After activating the device that held the elements of harmony in a secret compartment beneith the floor, the magical stones rose up and appeared before me. I cast my magical aura around them, focusing them to float around me, their harmonic magic surrounding me. I felt their magic fill me.with further knowlege that the stones seemed to posess. I knew then what they planned to do to my poor sister, I also knew what would happen should I fail to stop my sister. It was at that moment that I reluctantly saught out Nightmare Moon. She retreated back to the throan room, gloating and planning for her rein. I cut her off at the thought, surring the battle up once more.

"I'm sorry, dear sister, but you leave me no choice..." I told her, tears streaming down my cheeks again, knowing what was going to happen.

I think Luna knew at that moment what her fate was, but still lunged at me. While in mid air, Nightmare Moon was his with a magical blast from the Elements of Harmony, shooting the mare of darkness to the moon, imprisoning her there for what would be 1000 years, until the stares aided in her escape, or so the elements told me. After all was all said and done, the elements floaded down gently to the ground, and I was left alone, in an empty castle, looking up through the giant hole in our castle's ceiling at the moon my sister used to rise and lower every night and day. Along with the craters on it's surface, the image of a unicorn mare who appeared to be looking down on Equestria was now imprinted on the surface. My heart broke again when I realized what I had done.

Not only did I banish my own sister to the moon, but I had pushed away the last pony I was closed to. Star-Swirl my teacher I had kept secrets from, now he was a monster turned into a statue. My beloved Sombra I had turned to shadow and sealed away. Sunny was no where to be found, even with my Celatial Plane's Vision. And now, my sister, I had pushed away and made her feel so unloved that she turned into a monster herself. There were still ponies I trusted, Clover the Clever and some others, but the ponies I felt closest to were all gone. I made one mistake after another and payed dearly for it. Had lost my entire family, for 1000 years…

"I guess in a way, I too was trapped" Celestia concluded her story. "I had not only my royal duties to perform, but my sister's as well. I had to take on alot of work all at once, and I had to face it all on my own... All that began to change when I sent a young mare to oversee a certain Summer Sun Celebration."

Princess Celestia then looked back very at Twilight, cracked a small smiled and winked. Feeling proud that that one event lead Twilight to making so many friends and had sparked their journey together, the little purple alicorn smiled and winked back at her teacher, a silent thank you.

"Princess Celestia" White Out who had been Quietly taking notes and listening to the whole thing finally spoke up. "Are you saying you knew before hoof Twilight-, er, Princesses Twilight Sparkle would be the pony to set everything right? Did you have some prier knowlage some how that all this would happen."

"I was told by wise witches of some events that would uprise" Celestia began to explain. "One; one of my students that shows great promise must learn the value of friendship. Two; just as in the story of mare in the moon, on the longest day of the 1000 year the stars will aid in her escape. And three; shadows will run when a good colt goes to war."

As White Out's assistant, Feza, continued to record what the princess said, everypony thought about what it could have meant.

"So obviously the first two came true" Doctor finaly spoke up. "Twilight Sparkle being your student showed promise and learned about friendship."

"Then your sister did return on the 1000 Summer Sun Celebration" Twilight added, still thinking. "But what's the part of the stallion going to war?"

"It's an old poem" Octavia spoke up, catching the attention of everypony there. "We, rather, it's part of one. My grandmother used to read a lot of poetry to me when I was young."

"Do you remember who it was by?" Twilight asked, curious to see if it was by somepony she had heard of and may have a copy of their work back at her castle.

"I believe it was… Meadow, er, Spring. Something to that effect." Octavia struggled to remember the writer's name. Her grandmother spoke more of the few poems the mare wrote then the actual name.of the writer herself.

"Spring M. Meadows" Celestia said the name out loud as she walked over to a bookshelf that held some books and scrolls, as well as an out of place small statue of a royal guard. "I thought that poem sounded familiar."

After looking the books over, Celestia finaly found the one she saught after. Pulling the book down, Celestia then cracked the book open, the pages seemed to magically open to the page Celestia needed.

"Here we are" the princess of the Sun declared, once again collecting everypony's attention. " 'Shadows Run, by Spring M. Meadow…

Shadows run when a good colt goes to war
Night will fall and drown the sun when a good colt goes to war
Friendship dies and true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise when a good colt goes to war
Shadows run but count the cost
The battle's won but the child is lost
The fight goes on but what's it for when a good colt goes to war
Now rise the sun, now dawn the day
When good colts run and fillies stay
When battle's done and nothing's won
It's filly's job to say
Well then, Soldier, how goes the day?"

After hearing the poem for themselves, everypony in the room began delving into the words, trying to find the message and meaning behind it.

"Do you think the part about Night falling and drowning the sun had anything to do with when Nightmare Moon came back?" Fluttershy was the first to speak up.

"That could be…" Twilight thought about it.

"And the part of Friendship dying, maybe it had to do with when you and your friends took Discord on for the first time! You remember!? And he used that grey spell to make you all the opposite of your elements!" Sunny spoke up with more enthusiasm then was necessary for the memory which was still a soar spot.

"'True love lying' could be a talkin' 'bout when that crazy bug Queen tried ta marry Shinning Armor" Thunderlane spoke up, trying to sound more sure then he was, not having all the details himself.

"That kinda makes sense" Rainbow Dash, who was sitting closest to Thunderlane, patted her hoof to her chin, running the idea around in her head.

"But nothing happened to princess Luna that caused the 'dark to rise'… has it?" Twilight thought for a moment then turned to Princess Celestia, as did all her friends.

"That part, I'm afraid, has already happened. But not in referencing my sister this time as 'the night'" Celestia admitted. "The Crystal Empire returned right at sundown, releasing Sombra with it when it did. I was able to get ahold of Cadence and Shinning Armor and sent them that night by train. Twilight, you and your friends arrived there the next day."

"So 'night shall fall and the dark will rise' was being a little more literal" Twilight commented, thinking about the other verses. "So the next part of the poem…"

"Shadows run but count the cost" Sunny started to say, trying to think of who it was talking about. "The battle's won but the child is lost.… What could it mean..?"

"That part I don't believe has happened yet" Celestia chummed in. "the other events happened in order. Whatever it is, it is supposed to happen in the near future."

"A child lost?" Derpy muttered. "They must be so scared."

"The poem aside, there is one more thing to discuss" Celestia gathered everypony's attention once more. "And this needs to be kept top secret."

White Out and Thunder Veril paused and looked over to Feza, who looked up at them, then with a swift hit of his beak, shut the recording off.

"Thank you" Celestia smiled at the little bird. "Now, I believe the real reason Sombra came tonight was because of this…"

Celestia motioned to the purple diamond shaped jewel on her chest plate.

"Why would King Sombra go through all that mess for jewelry?" Rainbow Dash raised a disbelieving brow.

"I don't know, some ponies will go to great lengths for the right accessory" Rarity smiled, thinking of all the crazy things she went through to get the right gem, necklace, chain, button, whatever was needed to complete a project.

"This is not ordinary gem" Celestia continued. "Princess Amore herself gave it to me a few years before she vanished. It's one of four that when all togeather can be used to break powerful spells."

"Break powerful spells?" Twilight repeated her teachers words, intrigued but still not fully understanding, having never heard of such items before.

"That sounds… rather specific" Doctor added, sounding a little less then impressed.

"Not every magical item is super powerful" Sunny started to explain ahead of his mother. "In fact, certain magical items that are crafted or forged to only do one thing can be very powerful at what they do."

"Utility aside" Applejack interrupted. "What in the hey does Sombra need those gems for?"

"Yeah, what's he trying ta break?" Big Mac asked after his sister.

"I'm afraid there can be only one thing he could want them for…" Celestia's expression turned more forlorn once more. "I'm sure by now you all know Sunny is half Umbrum, his father, Sombra, being an Umbrum by birth himself."

Everypony nodded, with the exception of White Out and Thunder Veil, who already signalled Feza to not start the tape just yet.

"Amore told me that her mother, the previous ruler of the Crystal Empire, sealed away the Umbrum, using a very specific spell. The spell could only be undone by the original caster or by the four gems, that were also made by Amore's mother, and used for the spell. If Sombra gets them, he will release the Umbrum onto the world."

"As bad as that is, it actually gets worse" Doctor stepped forward, facing everypony with a pained look in his eyes. "Derpy and I traveled to a future where the Umbrum were released. If they break free, the future we face is a dark one. Void of sun and moon. A decent wasteland…."

Everypony could hardly believe what they were hearing. They looked to Doctor in horror, seeing the terrible truth behind his words. Derpy took to his side to comfort her friend (and secret crush).

"Then we won't let that happen" Sunny stated, standing up and facing his friends. "We've faced frightning odds before, and who knows what the future would have been if we lost those battles? It could have been even worse then if the Umbrum escaped. I say we take a stand and stop my father before he gets any of the stones."

"I believe he already has one, maybe two" Celestia hated to rain on her son's parade, but they needed to know what they were up against.

Not wanting to lose the bravado he was building up, Sunny continued his speech, modified slightly to incorporate the new information he had just received. "Like I said, we've all faced many foes, taken on challenges that most would run away from. We stood out ground and fought with courage in our hearts, knowing the odds were against us, and we can out on top. We are large in numbers now, larger if we include our allies not here, the ones who stood by us when they saw we were in trouble. We owe our victory to our allies to. They fight with the same stakes we did. Now, I say let's do this again. Let's come out on top.

" When my father comes back around to steal the last remaining stones, we'll show him what the magic of friendship can really do! What do you guys say!?" Sunny concluded his speech with holding his hoof out.

Everypony was a little confused by this action say for Big Mac, who remembered doing something like this before.

The large red farm pony approached Sunny and put his hoof ontop of his. "Ah'm in. It's always ah fun time with ya'll, even when we're runnin' fer our lives."

Remembering himself, Thunderlane approached Sunny and Big Mac, throwing his hoof over theirs. "We got this, bro. Ain't no pony can stop us! Now when we're together!"

Octavia smiled, but still rolled her eyes at the motion and would have preferred a simple hug, but put her hoof over Thunderlane's. "You all are nuts. But you are gentlecolts, indeed."

"I'm so in!" Derpy cheered as she tried to put her hoof ontop of the pile of hooves, tripped, and fell flat. Not losing her bravado either, she stuck a hoof up and added it to the pile of hooves from where she had fallen, all her friends cheering her on.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again" Doctor shot Sunny a cocky smile as he threw his hoof ontop of the pile of hooves "Allons-y!"

While Sunny and the New Guardians of Harmony did their hooves-in-together cheer, Twilight and her friends also gathered together for a large group hug, but none the less, both groups shared the similar inner fire, a burning friendship and drive to do good.

Celestia smiled as she looked over the little ponies. 'you've grown up so much. All of you. And especially you Sunny. Your talent was to bring out the best in anypony or anything. I never would have imagined it would give you such a large group of friends. But I'm very happy it did.'

Noticing the two ponies and bird of paradise in the back, Celestia walked over to them, smiled and told White Out "before I let you publish anything-"

"I'll let you read over and listen to our notes it to make sure it's all ok with you." The grey pegusi said while pushing up her glasses. "But can I make one request?"

"What would that be?" Celestia asked, a single eye brow raised.

"Can I keep Sunny's speech the way it was?" White out asked. "It was perfect. And ponies need to know just what kind of pony he is."

Flashing her gentle, motherly smile at the reporter, Celestia nodded "you may use his speech as it is."

"Hey guys" Pinkie popped up out of her hugging friends. "If Princess Celestia is Sunny's real mom, doesn't that mean he also a real prince?"

The girls and guardians looked from Pinkie to each other for reasurance, shrugged, then turned to Princesses Celestia.

"He always was a real prince" the princess of the sun stated. "Just because his father was a temporary king, didn't mean Sunny's position was the same."

"Theeeeeeeen shouldn't we need to, I don't know, have some sort of party to celebrate it? Plus him being reunited with his mom is really something to celebrate! I mean, really, how often does somepony reunite with their mom after 1000 years! And we can have mother son games like egg tosses, a seven legged race, and cake eating contest!" Pinkie's mind began racing with all the different games and events that they could do in celebration of the event.

"Pinkie, I don't think that's necessary" Sunny started to say. "Besides the fact that we just went to a gala that literally blew the roof off the place, everypony and every creature are probably tired. Not to mention where were you planning to hold one? The ballroom is kinda in need of a few repairs, as will probably most of the Canterlot castle."

"How 'bout someplace ah little closer to home?" Applejack pipped in, shooting Sunny a look that indicated he knew exactly where she meant.

"I think a party, and corrination is a wonderful idea" Celestia jumped in before Sunny could say it was a bad idea and start listing off more reasons why. "A corrination would help ponies and other creatures alike forget all about the trauma of the gala attack and give them something more positive to focus on."

Feelings of unsure and unease weighed down on Sunny, which was obvious to everypony in the room. But a certain somepony stepped forward, knowing exactly what to say to ease his troubled mind.

"You and yer friends worked hard and deserve ah party" Applejack nudged Sunny, locking his green eyes to hers, making the rest of the room seem to vanish. "Not ta mention this could end th' secracy yet mom and you've been hiding all this time. Don't ya think ya both deserve that?"

"I just… I never liked any of those fancy corrinations" Sunny started to relax and speak once again with a slight accent. "Everypony's supposed ta praise the prince or princess, an' it's always filled with stuffed shirts, an' it's always so full of unneeded things…"

Grabbing hold of Sunny's hoof, Applejack began to reassure him. "Ya earned this, Sunny. Ah don't know no pony more courageous, more self sacrificing, more noble, and humble then you. 'You' earned th' right ta be ah prince.

"As fer stuffed shirts, we can just have our closest friends an' family, maybe ah few guests there. Ah don't think many fancy ponies would like ta go to ah ho down at ah apple farm." Applejack had Sunny's full attention now, turning him onto the idea of actually going through with a corrination at the apple farm.

After thinking it over again, Sunny started at Applejack "ya ain't gunna do up th' orchard or barn with nothing over the top, right?"

"Ah'm sure ah could get Rarity ta help decorate, but ah'll ask her ta tone it down" Applejack could see from the corner of her eye Rarity looking both excited and a little insulted. But the fasionista knew she could keep things simple, for Sunny's sake.

Nodding his head, Sunny also added "yer gunna have ta run the idea by Granny."

"Ah don't think she'll mind" Applejack smiled, half laughing. "But she'll insist on baking fer th' event. Ya know how she gets around birthdays."

Both Sunny and Applejack remembered what Apple Bloom's birthday was like when the filly asked ta have her party at the ice cream shop, saying their ice cream cake was the best in town. Granny took it as a personal challenge. And after a week, Granny was able to perfect the Granny chilled apple a la mode cake (which was a fancy way to say she made a vanilla ice cream cake with chunks of frozen apple, pie crust chunks, and sugar cinnamon sprinkles.)

Sunny and Applejack looked once again to each other, then back to the rest of their friends and family.

"Ah'll right, we'll have ourselves ah corrination" Sunny declared, earning cheers from the Elements and Guardians of Harmony, as well as a wide smile from his own mother. That's when Sunny walked up to Celestia, a little nervous, but he gathered his courage enough to ask "you'll be there too…right?"

Tears began to emerge from the far corners of Celestia's eyes. "Sunny, I wouldn't miss it for all the cake in Equestria."

That made Sunny jump and give his mother another great big hug, which she happily returned. They both felt like they needed to catch up after all those years of no hugs.

"We hope… we could be invited to…" another familiar voice broke the moment, causing Sunny and Celestia to look to the door, where princess Luna was standing, her eyes looking sheepishly at Sunny. "We know we've been… cold, to say the least, to you in the past. But… can we also have a fresh start?"

Before anypony could say anything, Sunny walked right up to Luna, causing the princess of the moon to hesitate slightly, but was forced into a hug. "Ah'd love for ya ta be there too, auntie!"

The motion made Luna stiffen. After all the years of her ignoring Sunny, all the years of her cold words and even colder eyes, Sunny was able to not only forgive her just as Celestia had forgiven her for the Nightmare Moon incident, but he even went as far as to call her Auntie!? Returning the hug a little more gently then Sunny, Luna whispered in his ear "thank you…"

Breaking the hug, Sunny met her teary eyes with a wide smile. "We've all been alone, at one place or another fer ah long, long time. Ah think it's time ta just leave th' bad in th' past and focus on th' good times, both ah head and from before. Like when pappy and ah put that fake snake in yer bed!"

Luna's heart felt expression shattered in an instant as memories of that prank from 1000 years ago popped back into her head. "That was you two! We should have known! Ugh! We were afaird to sleep in our own bed for a week after that!"

"April fool's, Auntie!" Sunny's smile widened.

"Now that you mention it" Celestia spoke up before anything else could be said from either Sunny or Luna "I haven't seen pappy in a while…."

"I sure hope he makes it for the party!" Pinkie cheered as she pulled out her party cannon, firing a blast of confetti, streamers, blown up balloons, and random bits of candy while she blew a noisemaker and threw on a party hat.

Far off in the mountains, far from Canterlot

An older colt stood atop a mountain peak watching as a large black dragon began to lay back down for a nice long rest.

"Thank you, Garganda, for trusting me…" Pappy said to his old friend, who probably didn't even hear him. "Ah know it's ah long shot. But it's th' best one we got…"

In the old Colt's hooves was a stone cut into a perfect pyramid like diamond, bright yellow in color, and almost glowing. He quickly secured it in his bag that he kept under his cloak. The mountain top was covered with fresh snow, and the cloak provided little to no release from the cold. But it was the cloak Pappy had with him from the start of this journey that's lasted over 1000 years, no point in changing now.

"Now Sombra boy has one, We have one, and little Celestia has one that she might give to Sunny for safe keeping" Pappy continued to speak. "I'll be Sombra's next target. Ah better make myself difficult ta find. Shouldn't be too hard…"

With that, the elderly Earth pony seemed to just dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

Shifting shadows are hard to find in a blizzard...

Author's Note:

Notes

Writes to the poem "shadows run' goes to Steven Moffat, DWM 457, and his work "Demons run"

I hope all my loyal readers who have been following me this far enjoyed Celestia's story time, and knowing the full back story of Celestia and Sombra in this tale.

As I'm sure most of you could tell, the story was based off of the MLP FIM comic arch titled 'Reflections', in the since that there is a good king Sombra and he and Celestia are in love, as well as the use of magical mirrors, Star Swirl being against their relationship, as well as the two having to sneak around to be together. But that's were the similarities end.

I wanted a love story for those two that didn't separate them by dimension. But now they seem to be separated by duty. Each with their own duty to their kind.

Again, thank you for reading. Hope you see this through to the end, but if you don't, I understand.