Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Canterlot Comic Con! Part 1

Sunny was amazed at the turn out of this comic book convention he and Spike were attending. All the comic book stores he had visited in the past barely had anypony or any creature in it, but this event had a line stretched around the large building that hosted it!

"This is so exciting!" Spike nearly squeaked the words out, so excited he was nearly bouncing out of his scales. "I've always wanted to go to Canterlot Comic con, but Twilight never wanted to take me."

It wasnt hard to see why. A pony like Twilight Sparkle, even before she was crowned a princess and made to be this overly popular pony who would receive the instant attention and bow from everypony around, would find the atmosphere a little… hard to breath in. Sunny took note before hoof to come in costume so as not to attract unwanted attention (especially since everypony in equestria now knew he was the son of the one and only princess Celestia), and thus dressed in a Dark Detective outfit that Rarity made for him. She also fashioned a Hum-drum outfit for Spike to help make them a perfect crime fighting duo. Quite a few other convention goers were also dawning the costumes of their favorite comic based heros and villains as well. Some a little less imaginative then others, being made of simply cardboard and duct tape to replicate… robots of some sort? Sunny had never seen something resembling them in comics before. But some were absolutely mind blowing! With parts that glowed even in bright light, costumes that transformed when the wearer moved a certain way, and ones that had such amazing detail that it was hard to tell they weren't real!
But the convention goers that caught Sunny's unwanted attention… well, probably were the reason why Twilight wanted to stay away from events like this.

"I'll trade you a Doctor Marevolous number 3 mint for your Prankster number 4" one thin, rather pale looking colt offered somepony ahead of him in line, holding up a comic book in a hard plastic sleeve.

"Ha! Any of the first ten Prankster comics are worth three times even a mint collection of the Hoof-tastic 4, which are worth waaaaay more then any Doctor Marevolous comics" a slightly overweight and balding stallion snorted at the colt. "Throw in that 'Pinkiepool; what if' comic and I 'might' feel generous and do the trade."

"No way! I'm getting it signed by Comic Stan today!" The colt started protesting glaring angrily at the overweight stallion, obviously insulted and furious. At that point, Sunny thought it best to ignore the conversation.

Sunny's attention was then turned to a trio of unicorn colts right behind him, all with their muzzles practically glued to small rectangular devices they were holding, sitting on their haunches. The devices were foreign to Sunny, having never seen them in ponyville, the only colt in town who had a hoofboy being Button Mash. Curious, Sunny looked over at the trio as they appeared to be playing some sort of game on the electrical device.

"I cant wait to get the special pocket creature this year" one of the three started to say to his two friends. "Its supposed to be a sparkly Meowtwo, right?"

"Lame" one of his friends blurted out. "I got one of those from last month's con in Baltimare. And that one didn't have us wait outside for this long! They should offer something cooler, like a sparkly Gargalon or something."

"I'm just glad I could sneak out" the last remaining friend chimed in. "My mom has been really pushing me the last week, ever since I got a C in magical math. Ugh! I don't even know what part of that is supposed to be magical! It's just another boring class I'll never use in real life, like magical history. Who needs to know when the fall of Trot was!? Why do I need to know who built the Hooferdam!?"

"Dude, I know your mom rides you alot, and I feel your pain" the second colt spoke up. "But seriously, I don't want to hear about your problems unless it's your out of potions or Phoenix feathers."

The like gradually moved as Sunny took in more of the attmosphere, which was begging to make the yellow unicorn antsy. But as Sunny and Spike approached the front door, the two could see the inside was well lit and decorated wall to wall with tapestries and posters of various comic book characters. Alot Spike recognized, and took it upon himself to fill Sunny in about all the different characters, teams, comic book companies and the differences between them.

"Ya must have spent an awful lot of time studying all those comics ta know all that 'bout 'em" Sunny smiled while readjusting his hat, his head spinning a little at the information overload.

"Yeah. Well when Twilight would study her books on magic, I'd read comics. The Canterlot library just started carrying them when I was just learning to read." Spike admitted as they grew closer to the front of the line. "Ans Shinning Armor would also lend me his comics, which gave me even more to read."

"Its all ah lot ta take in" Sunny admitted, all the images of Super heros and villains surrounding him, the loud talking that seemed to ring in his ears, and a horrible smell that Sunny swore was coming off the balding stallion ahead of them, was all overwhelming. Especially the smell.

"I hope I helped somewhere along the way too" a young, feminine voice called out as a dragon just slightly taller then Sunny appeared. She was light brown with light cobalt accents, and swirling pink hair that almost looked like a combination of Pinkie and Rarity's manes. She walked right up to Spike and held a claw down low to him "Long time no see, Spike."

"Hey Mina! I haven't seen you in forever!" The spark in Spike's eyes quickly returned as he enthusiastically gave the female dragon a low five then a hug. Breaking the hug, Spike turned to Sunny and introduced his friend. "Sunny, this is Mina. I met her when I went to Philidelphia with Princess Luna a while back. She runs a comic book store there."

"Its a pleasure to…" the dragoness started to say and hold out a clown when she paused, her irises growing wide with sudden realization. "Wait! You-you- you're not that… YOU ARE!!!"

The young dragoness then let out a high pitched screech that could shatter glass. Amazingly, though, only ponies who were directly around them even payed attention to the ruckus she was making.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! You're him! Like THE him!" She started to say, her speech becoming somewhat recognizable. "I've heard legends about you! The actual Black Knight! The one who gained the Respect of Dragon Lord Garnet! Who stopped a war between ponies and dragons and would team up with dragons to go on dangerous missions! Could I please, please, please get you to sign some stuff for me!!!"

Spike and Sunny watched as Mina began rustling though her backpack, pulling out various books and comics, all had Black Knight images or the name on them. When she was done gathering all the items she wished for Sunny to sign, she promptly zipped up her bag and held the items out with a quill, her eyes sparkling with joy and excitement.

Still a little nervous, Sunny lowered his cosplay hat and spoke in a low tone "I dont mind signing anything, especially for a friend of Spike's, but can we keep me being here on the down low?"

"Yeah, see, Sunny still is in the beginning of the whole starstruck, being-famous-and-everypony-wants-a-picture-with-me-and-around-me phase eversince Princess Celestia had his coronation and declared him her son and an official Prince of Equestria" Spike spoke in a low enough tone to where only he, Sunny and Mina could hear. "Twilight went through the same thing for a while. Its gunna be a few months before ponies quit freaking out."

The dragoness's ears fell to the side of her head, her joyful gaze turned timid. "Oh… ugh, sorry. I didn't mean to bother you."

Before Mina could say anything else, Sunny levitated the quill she had and one of her books titled 'The Black Knight and the war that didn't come' up to him, smiled at her and asked "Dont worry about it. Just keep it between us, ok? And would you like me to sign this as Sunny the Black Knight, or Soleggiato the Black Knight?"

"Sunny would be great!" Mina's smile returned as did her bouncing enthusiasm. Halfway though signing a few of her comics, somepony in a monster costume approached Mina, tapped her on the shoulder, then whispered in her ear for a moment. Mina's expressions turned from excited to nervous really fast, then she told Sunny and Spike "I'll be right back, I have to, ugh, deal with something. Please keep signing! I'll be back in a flash!"

Spike watched as Mina ran off with the costume clad acquaintance of hers, a bit confused and slightly worried. "I hope everything's ok."

"Apparently" Sunny spoke softly as he finished signing another comic and gently put it back in its protective sleeve. "There are about a dozen or so dragons here, including you and her, but they are hiding in outfits."

"Really? I wonder why" Spike scratched the back of his head as his eyes then looked out onto the convention, trying to spot the disguised dragons.

"Something to do with ponies not trusting dragons with books after some incident a few weeks back" Sunny told him as he picked up another comic. "They dont want to cause any trouble and were more then happy to come in disguise. Mina apparently offered to help them since it's hard walking around in full body costumes all the time. But one of the dragons think they have a cold. Dragons and colds, bad combo."

Spike nodded in agreement before shaking his head strait and turning to his friend. "Wait, how do 'you' know about all of this?"

"Well I did work with dragons alot way back when Spike" Sunny answered, then returned the other comic that he signed back to its sleeve before picking up a book to sign. "I remember when little Torch got a cold, whew boy, was ah glad mah armor was dragon fire proof! Ugh, and rust proof. That boy could sneeze something fierce. Dragon booties! Ugh! Still makes me quiver-"

"Not that! About the dragons here! How did you know all that about them hiding and all that?" Spike felt out of the loop, like Sunny failed to inform him at the very beginning of their venture.

Sunny stopped signing for a moment, then looked around to make sure no pony or dragon was listening. "Well… I only told Applejack this, and ah figure she'll tell Twilight an' th' others at some point. But ah found out recently that ah can hear pony's, and apparently Dragon's, fears. Almost like readin' their minds, but only what they're 'afraid of. An' only when they're really nervous or afraid."

"Really? How long could you do that?" Spike asked, shocked to hear of this new power Sunny had.

"Just ah few days ago" Sunny told him. "Long story, but ah'll tell ya that later, promise" Sunny smiled at his young friend, then picked up the last thing Mina had in her pile of things she wanted Sunny to sign. He was a little shocked to see it wasnt a book or a comic, but a cool looking action figure of him. "Wow. Look at that Spike! Ah'm an action figure!"

"Hey guys, sorry about that" Mina reappeared, a little out of breath.

"No problem, we understand" Spike waved his claw. "I think Sunny finished signing all of your things."

"Thank you soooooo much! I'm a huge fan!" The brown dragoness said as she began gently putting the now signed items back in her bag.

"Not a problem" Sunny smiled and tipped his hat to Mina. "Any friend of Spike is ah friend of mine. And if ya ever need Maher help, don't hesitate ta ask."

Before Mina could let out another screech of fangirly joy, a different costume wearing dragon walking on all fours approached her and whispered in her ear.

"Ugh, gotta go, I'll see you guys around, ok?!" Mina called out to Spike and Sunny before rushing off to deal with another possible problem.

Spike continued to explain some stuff about a comic book team of super heros that was his second favorite team, next to the Power Ponies of course, as he and Sunny finaly reached the front doors. Sunny offered up their tickets to a stallion at the front door who then marked Sunny's front right hoof and Spike's right claw with a stamp that would allow them back into the convention if they stepped out, then the two proceed to the main hall, which wss a large room twice the size of the ballroom at the Canterlot castle! Sunny and Spike remain breathless for a moment as they took in the vastness of it, with almost every inch of the room organized to present various booths for comic book artist to sign autographs, a few stages where shows would be held and tones of merchandise stands.

The atmosphere was very alive with fans of various comics talking about their favorite comics, throies of what will happen next in the series, little debates about which comic/hero/villain is better then the other, some individuals showing off their flashy costumes, and even a group of costumed goers who started an odd chain of dancing that looked like some cross between the Mumba and traditional yakyakistanian celebratory folk dance. The even was unlike anything Sunny had ever seen before. It was still pretty loud, but no more then a wonderbolts stadium before a show.

"Oh! Over there!" Spike started to run off, almost leaving Sunny behind.

"Hold up there partner" Sunny pulled a rope and lasso out of his hat, flung it at the young dragon, and grabbed him with the rope like a pro. Part of him wished Applejack was there to see him successfully perform the trick. Pulling the little dragon back to him, Sunny untied him and started stuffing the rope back into his hat. "There's an awful lot of ponies here, ah dont want us gettin' separated, ok?"

With a small disappointed sigh, Spike's excited expression slumped "Right."

"So what's got ya'll so excited?" Sunny turned the attention back to where Spike was heading.

The little dragon's enthusiasm quickly returned as he jogged a little ahead and took his place in line. "Its the line to meet the artist and writing team behind the Super comics book hero team 'Nemesis Watch'! They consist of heros from all different comics who gathered to defend the world from all different kinds of bad guys and catastrafies! They're the greatest hero team of all time!"

"Pft, only a kid would think that!" A stallion approached from the crowd, Sunny recognizing him as the foul smelling stallion from earlier. "Nemesis Watch is boring! The heros have no back story and little to no weaknesses, and hardly struggle in their fights. It's almost like watching 'Kungfu dragon monkeys', where the main guy fights a tuff opponent, gets beaten up by the bad guy, gets healed while his friends fight and loose to the same bad guy, then the hero comes back even stronger then before, and defeats the bad guy. It's so formulaic, its predictable.

"'Alleyway Troopers' are the greatest team of all time" the Stallion then pulled out a comic laminated in a hard plastic from his back pack and flashed it to Spike and Sunny. "They work the streets as vigalanties, have super powers but not enough to make them OP, have dark backgrounds, and are relatable. Not like Nemesis Watch, who are just like the Popular kids of the super hero highschool."

"Alleyway Troopers are terrable!" A mare spoke up from two ponies ahead of where Spike, Sunny and the smelly stallion were talking. She was dressed as possibly some heroin or villainess (Sunny couldn't tell), and stepped out of line to walk back towards the boys. "Their comics are all dark and brooding, rarely ever actually give the heros a solid win, and pandle only to ponies who look for the dark, sad and depressing things in life. What is relatable about that?"

"What would you know, you couldn't even get the color of 'Miss Mischief's costume right" the stallion snapped back, going on the defensive.

"At least I can afford a costume!" The mare hissed back. "What's the matter, your mommy couldn't sew you one?"

"What was that!?" The smelly stallion was getting mad, his cheeks growing red as his eyes narrowed on the mare.

"You heard me, momma's boy!" The mare yelled back.

"Hold up everypony!" Sunny stepped in the middle of them, the two angry pony's attention now turned to him. "We're all here ta enjoy th' convention, cant we all just-"

"Mind your own business" the mare yelled at Sunny.

"Yeah. Who asked you anyway!" The smelly stallion added before he and the mare continued to shoot insult after insult at each other, the mare losing her spot in line. All her energy being focused on insulting and defending against the large smelly stallion.

Sunny redirected poor Spike's attention back to the line that was slowly moving, and kept the young dragon entertained by asking him questions about the Nemesis Watch. The little dragon talked less enthusiastically about them, though, then he did before they had the ruin with that smelly stallion.

"Dont let that guy get to ya, Spike" Sunny told him. "Everypony has their own opinion, and unfortunately, some think everypony else's opinion is wrong. Pay him no mind."

"Thanks…" Spike cheered up a little, then noticed they were almost at the front of the line, when he saw the most popular comic book artist there. "Sunny look! Its him! The grandfather of comic books! The creator of heroes! The number one comic guy! Comic Stan!!!"

Looking up at the stage that the line was going up to, Sunny did notice the familiar old colt standing between several other ponies at a table with comic book hero printed cloth draped over it. The old colt was smiling and taking comic books, signing them and offering words of inspiration as he did, on occasion even striking a pose of one famous comic hero or another, making the fans cheer.

"Wow, Stan sure is popular" Sunny commented under his breath as he tipped his Dark Detective hat a little, as he normally did with his Stetson.

"He's the greatest! Anypony who loves comics has his autograph on some comic, or t-shirt, or anything that relates to comics!" Spike said with a wide grin as he held tightly onto his comic. "And in just a few short minutes, I'm going to get him to sign my Nemesis Watch number 1!"

The line moved up, now with just three ponies ahead of him, Spike could barely contain his enthusiasm, literally bouncing in place. Sunny hadn't realized just how long they had been in line for until he looked back at the giant clock near the entrance. It had been almost two hours into the covention, and this was the only thing they had done!

'Wish ah had know Spike wanted Stan's autograph so badly before, ah would have just asked him at th' gala' the yellow stallion though, but didn't say it outloud.

Just then, as if on cue, one of the comic writers sitting two spaces to the left from Comic Stan got sick all over the table! The pony to Stan's right also blew chunks, forcing the older stallion to get up from his seat. Immediately ponies in suits approached the stage, closing it off from the rest of the line, pushing the guests off stage, and tending to the sick artists as fast as possible. Comic Stan, who appeared to be ok for the moment was escorted off stage and out of sight of the crowd.

A well dressed mare in a light purple suit approached the stage, a handkerchief pressed firmly against her muzzle as she addressed the crowd. "Hello everypony, can I have your attention! My name is Lucky Swirl, the hostess of this, er, gathering. I'm sorry everypony, but it seems we'll have to put a hold on the signing even until further notice."

There was a slight uproar from the line behind Sunny and Spike. Most ponies saying they want their money back, saying how it was all they came there for and others even going as far to say that this was a conspiracy.

"I'm sorry, but the well being of the artists must come first. We will let you know as soon as the artists are well enough to continue with the convention. In the mean time. Feel free to enjoy the other activities and events the convention has to offer" Lucky suggested loudly, then whispered to herself. "Not like any of you really have anything else better to do with your time…"

Spike fell to his knees, appearing devastated and on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry Spike" Sunny put a hoof on the little dragon. "Why don't ah threat ya to some ice cream or something. Ah'm sure Comic Stan is ok and he'll be back before th' conventions' over."

"Y-yeah… sounds good" Spike sniffled and walked away with Sunny.

In the midst of everything, no pony saw some fiendish looking pony in the background, covered in black say for a white mask with a question mark on it, slide back into the shadows and out of sight, chuckling to themselves.

Along the way to acquire their desired frozen dairy delight, Sunny and Spike made a wrong turn and ended up in a sea of merchandise booths. Both boys were amazed at the pictures ponies have painted or drawn, most of the pictures being of comic book characters, alot to the artist's own unique art style. The attention to detain and unique style of the art captivated Sunny and Spike.

"Hey Sunny, check it out! Somepony drew the girls as the Power Ponies!" Spike pointed to a well drawn picture of Twilight, Applejack and the rest as the super powered heros they portrayed in the magical comic they were sucked into.

Walking over to the picture Spike was excited about, the yellow unicorn couldn't help but notice a singled out picture of Applejack as Mistress Marevolous. Sunny paused for a long time and stared at the picture, contemplating on buying it, but wondering how Appekjack would feel about him hanging it up.

"Hello, Equestria to Sunny, you there?" Spike's waving claw in front of Sunny's muzzle finally broke him out of his transe.

"Oh, ugh, sorry about that Spike" Sunny chuckled then tried to redirect the baby dragon's attention. "Did you see any pictures you wanted to buy?"

"Yeah, and I see you did too" Spike smirked as he raised his eyebrows at Sunny, who was nervously trying to not bring attention to the picture he liked of Applejack dressed as a super hero.

"Well, ugh, why don' we see how much they are…" Sunny hastily walked Spike over to where the booth owner was sitting, reading a magazine, appearing board but more entertained then if he was just sitting there. "Excuse me sir, ah was wonderin' how much-"

Without looking up at Sunny, the board looking stallion simply pointed to a sign near him that listed off types and prices;

Sketch: 15 bits
Colored sketch: 25 bits
Color with background: 45 bits
Commisions: 100 bits per hour

No refunds

You damage it, you buy it

Sunny thought it was pricey, but he could understand. Drawing is an art, this is how artist live and eat. Then he looked back at the board looking stallion as he continued to ignore him, and turned a page of his magazine. 'Even if they seem like they could care less…'

"Hey guys" a spirited looking pegasus mare popped up between Sunny and Spike. She wore a black hat that made it look like she had cat ears and wore a puffy orange sweater that must have been uncomfortable in the corwded convention building. "You guys want some 'decently priced' art? Tired of spending all your hard earned bits on one measly picture? Why not come over to my booth? I have Power Ponies pictures, variant art covers of rare comics, and more! At half the price of other booths."

That caused the board looking stallion running the art booth to look up, his emotiinless expression cracked and flaired with anger. He slammed his book shut and walked over to the mare that was advertising to Sunny and Spike. "Your 'pictures' are anything but art! They're just traced drawings! Cheap copies of the original Artist's hard work drawn onto another piece of paper and colored in! My pictures are real art! They are my own style, My sweat and time-"

"Drawn once and copied with a machine a hundred times!" The mare snapped back. "You draw something once and charge out the nose for it!"

"Atleast the originals are my own work!" The stallion snapped back again.

Spike and Sunny decided it would be best if they took this time to sneak away, fearing that the aggression might be turned to them again should they try and interfere. If they really wanted those pictures, they could always come back later, leaving the two 'artists' to fight amungst themselves.

After getting some brightly colored ice cream cones, Spike and Sunny sat down to watch what appeared to be a skit performed by some ponies dressed as the Power Ponies fighting off the still evil Black Knight.

"I thought those writer friends of yours made the Black Knight good in the comics" Spike said as he watched the action packed fight scene unveil.

"That's what ah was told they were gunna do" Sunny told his pal as he took a few licks of his fast melting ice cream cone.

"They did, and it was a dumb move" a colt sitting in front of Sunny and Spike spoke up, but didn't add anything else to the conversation for a while.

Sunny and Spike then noticed the colt was playing that small hoof held game they saw earlier. Not just that, but the colt that spoke up and the three colts next him were the four Sunny and Spike saw in line before they entered the convention building. Two of the colts had their hoof boys linked with a cable and appeared to be battling against each other while the other two were watching the skit.

After several moments of silence, Sunny tried to get the attention of the colt who spoke up. "Mind if ah ask 'why'd ya think makin' th' Black Knight ah good guy was ah dumb idea?"

After another long silence, the colt appeared to lose his game to his friend, grunted in anger then turned to Sunny, appearing more annoyed then before. "Well if you ever read the comics, they made him flip sides so suddenly that it didn't flow. Just all of a sudden they had him turn against the evil witch who created him and that was that! I mean, really!? No redemption? No working to gain the Power Ponie's trust!? When the other bad guys became good guys they had alot of work to do to make up for all the bad things they did!"

"Not just that" the colt who had won the battle on their hoofboys spoke up while he wound up his cord. "They keep turning their villains into good guys. Why cant bad guys be bad guys. You don't see Tirek or Chysalis turning good any time soon. Not everypony or creature needs to be good. Sometimes bad guys are more likable."

Before Sunny could say anything to the colts about the change being better (at least in his opinion), there was a loud snap from the stage, quickly followed by the entire cast of the skit dissapreating in a flash. Everypony watching got up from their seats and looked around, whispering in confusion. Several more security guards in suits went to the stage and began pulling the fallen actor's out from trap doors that had given way. Most of the actors appeared to only have suffered minor scratches, but their costumes were torn to shreds from the fall.

After another moment of panicked conversation arising from the crowd, Lucky Swirl appeared once again on the stage, appearing more out of breath then the last time Sunny and Spike had seen her. "Hello again, Everypony. I'm sorry to say the next couple of shows at this stage have been canceled until our stage hooves can determine what happened. Please, feel free to enjoy the rest of the convention. And again…there are no refunds. Have fun everypony! Make lots of friends! Talk about comics and whatever it is you do!"

Sunny and Spiks noticed Lucky whispered the whole 'no refunds' part of her speech before loudly telling them all to have fun and make friends.

"Thats the second thing to go wrong" Spike stated as he and Sunny got up from their seats. The baby dragon chomped down on the last bit of his cone and added "what else could go wrong?"

"What else could go wrong!?" Lucky Swirl mimicked Spike's question as she huffed past him and Sunny, not noticing them, quickly followed by two worried looking mares. "First the air conditioning, then the lights, and an infestation of rats, and that was just this morning! Do you realize how much this is costing me!?"

"W-we know Ms. Swirl" one of the worries looking mares answered. "We're doing the best we can!"

"Its bad enough I rent this place out to these… these comic book geeks every year! It hardly pays off, and they leave the place smelling like my brothers old bedroom! But now all of this! I've had enough! I'm done hosting these conventions!"

The second worried mare chimed in. "B-but ma'am! What about the guests who loyaly come every year! It makes them so happy!"

Lucky stopped and glared at the second worries mare who had followed her. "Don't get me started o the guests! They're rude! Greedy! And self absorbed! They dont need to be breathing in their own fumes! They need to move out of their parents basement, get jobs and get real lives! If I cancel this stupid convention, I'll save myself from head aches and be doing the whole community a service!

"If just one more thing goes wrong, I'm canceling it right now!" Lucky Swirl said as she stomped off, her two assistants looking nervously at each other before following behind the unhappy host.

"Its a good thing nothing else bad has happened yet" Sunny stated before he and Spike heard a crowd's worth of very unhappy screams coming from the direction of the merchandise booths.

Running over there as fast as they could, Sunny and Spike noticed several ponies who were running the booths, selling pictures, figures, pillows, plushies and other various collectables were either pointing hooves and accusing one another for the loss of their products or were frantically looking around aimlessly for their missing goods!

"Admit it, you stole my pictures!" The board stallion from earlier snapped at the tracing mare.

The cat ear and orange sweater wearing tracing mare from earlier pushed back at the board stallion. "Why would I want 'your' copied pictures!? Cant you just, oh I dont know, make more copies!?"

"My key chains! Where are my key chains?!!?" Another mare frantically looked under near by booth tables. "I worked so hard on them!"

"All my plushies! My hats and scarves! Even my custom socks! They're all gone!" A pegasus mare flew up and began looking all around for her missing merchandise.

"How are all of our T-shirts gone!? We had two dozen boxes!" A pair of stallions ran around, eyes wide and panicked.

No pony else noteced a black clothed figure wearing a white mask with a questions mark on it, looking at the chaos unravel from the west exit of the building, chucking laughter eching down the hall as the fiend made their escape...

Author's Note:

Nemesis Watch=Avengers
Kungfu Dragon Monkeys= dragonball Z/biker mice from outer space
Alleyway Troopers =Defenders
Hoofboy=gameboy (not my original idea)

And as for the whole conversation with the black K ight turning good, that was a shout out to both the Starlight glimmer/Sunset shimmer reformation argument. How Starlight was forgiven so easily and Sunset had to really work for it. Also, the Black Knight turning against the evil witch that made his is a reference to Mighty Morphin power ranger's own green ranger.