Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

FlimFlamverse

This time when the world reset, Sunny's meteor prison crashed down and landed in the Everfree forest, he emerged with the full knowledge of everything that had happen previously when the time line was altered and the previous timelines he had seen. This time when he emerged from the crater, he planned to find out what was going on and stopping it. Only, as he emerged from the crash site, he looked around and was horrified by what he saw, not as shocking as when he saw the Crystal Empire under his father's oppression, but the sight of it still made Sunny sick. The once lush, green, wild forest that harbored many dangerous, wild and unruly creatures and plant life was now nothing more then a barren wasteland. The trees were all chopped down, leaving behind many stumps that were just a few inches from the ground. All around where one could search for wild animal prints proving that a creature had been there, were only tracks from a machine that Sunny recognized were similar to the mechanical monsters Flim and Flam tried to use to tear down the Apple's orchard! Everything came togeather when Sunny looked up and saw the giant sign with Flim and Flam's smiling faces that read 'Private Property of FlimFlam lumber co. No trespassing' and in very small letters underneath it read 'trespassing will result in a very heafty fee. So please feel free to trespass and give us your bits today'.

"Those… those SWINDLERS!!!" Sunny snapped, anger building up in him. But the half umbrum pony did his best to keep that anger in check. He needed to find out more about this alternate time line, and if he was in luck, it would turn out to be Flim and Flam who were behind this time rewinding issue and he could get two birds with one stone. Not that he needed an excuse to hate Flim and Flam, but it would just be convineant if THEY were the ones behind all of this.

Venturing away from the barren land that used to be the Everfree forest, Sunny made his way yo the closest town he knew of, Ponyville. Sunny experianced a new mixture of emotions as hebarrived at the town's edge. Anger, disgust, loathing, and sorrow. The sign a mile just out of town welcoming ponies to Ponyville was replaced by one that read 'FlimFlam Village, a place rich with Heritage'.

"This is so incredibly wrong…" Sunny thought outloud as he pressed on, curious and a little worried as to what awaited him.

Seeing the Everfree forest robbed of its natural, wild, beauty was shocking enough, but seeing the town Sunny had made a home in the state it was left Sunny absolutely heartbreaken. The individual houses that were once a fair distance apart, all looking slightly different in very subtle ways, had been replaced with strait rows of identical houses, lined up directly against one another allowing for a maximum number of houses to have been built.

All of them a clean white color with shingled roofing, all with the same small patch of fake grass infront of it, all with similarly placed fake bushes to the left of their front door and similarly placed fake trees two steps to the right of the front door. If Sunny didnt know it, he would have said that this was all part of a very unimaginative foal's drawing of a town. Just when Sunny felt like he was trapped in a hall of mirrors with no way out, he spotted a familiar face. Two of them! It was Big Mac and Pinkie Pie!

Sunny started to run up to them, feeling an overwhelming sence of relief, when he took a second glance at the situation. Big Mac appeared to be wearing some sort of white uniform, heavy bags under his eyes and a longer, more drained face then he ever had seen on his old friend. Pinkie, on the other hoof, had eyes of fire and was grinding her teeth, teething with a type of anger Sunny never thoight possible.of the pink party pony.

"I'm telling you, the wall just collapsed! No monsters, natural disasters or even a launched bit of confetti!" Pinkie sounded at Big Mac. "The wall was obviously defective! I have a receipt for the last time it had to be replaced! Just two days ago! Look!"

As Pinkie presented Big Mac with a paper with very tiny lettering, Big Mac, without even really looking, having experience with the situation, sighed heavily and pointed out a part to Pinkie in small printing. "Without upgrading to a premium package of renter's insurance, you forgo the right to an extended warrantee of the structure past 12 hours...Ah'm mighty sorry Pinkie. Ya always could take 'em ta court about-"

"Take Flim and Flam's building company to court?!" Pinkie could barely breath she was yelling so loud, her face turning a dark shade of red. "Oh yeah! Take the guys to court who run the court! What do you think this is?! Canterlot!? I might as well just give them all of my bits!"

"Just make sure its done by the time I get back from work!" Pinkie gave up the fight, slammed her front door, which also fell off its hindges, making the pink pony even more frustrated as she released a hissed growl before turning back to Big Mac with two small bags of bits. "And take care of that door, too!"

"Yes, Miss Pie…" Big Mac's glum tone and sorrowful expression showed he was having a hard time swallowing all of this as anypony was. He knew all this was a load of manure, but he couldnt do anything about it. As Pinkie disappeared into the distance, Sunny approached Big Mac.

"You ok, Big Mac?" Sunny asked, knowing full well that Big Mac wasn't going to recognize him, but also knowing that right now the big fella was feeling lower then mud on the underside of a pig.

Getting right to work, Big Mac acknowledged Sunny but worked while he talked, keeping his eyes glued to the job ahead of him. "Ya know, this place used ta be ah friendly town. Simple, cozy, and close. If ah had come across this before. Ah would have just helped a pony out and fixed it for free, or for ah glass of lemonade at most. But Flim and Flam say ah have ta fix atleast 15 problems ah day ta keep my job. Anything less and they either take it out of mah pay check or don't pay me for the week."

"That's terrable! How can anypony get away with that!?" Sunny gasped.

"They also run the court here in Pon-, er, FlimFlamville" Big Mac corrected himself, pasting some cardboard and a fake painted wall up against the damaged wall of Pinkie's house. "Wouldn't matter much even if anypony actually had a case against 'em. They have contracts for everything that is air tight."

"This all is still totally against Eauestrian law, they still have rules to abide by, even if they rule the town! Why don't the Princesses get involved?" Sunny was trying with all his might to think up some way to help the ponies of the town.

"Rhumor has it that Flim and Flam have dirt of the princesses and are blackmailing them ta keep out of their town. No pony can do anything, cept leave town. But then they have ta pay ah movin' outa town fee, a fee for closing any shop they owned, a road fee dependin' on which road ya take… its just better ta either sneak out and move somewhere ya can change yer name an' hope their FlimFlamville police don't catch ya fer skippin' fees or ta just go broke an' live on their streets. It's where we're all gunna go anyway…"

Sunny couldnt believe what he was hearing. Looking around at the houses around them, taking a second good look, he could tell all the houses were made to fall apart. Parts of them were peeling off as he and Big Mac spoke, revealing cardboard underneath. Ponies were being forced to stay in homes like this, forced to stay there or pay fees to leave, and the princesses for some underhanded reason couldn't help. "I won't stand for this!"

Big Mac had just finished working on Pinkie's house when Sunny blurted out his outrage. "Its terrable, but what can ya do?"

Sunny was already concocting a plan when he leaned in, putting a hoof over Big Mac's shoilder and whispered in his ear. "We're gunna fight this. Dirty if we have to. I know you know some ponies who are as tired of this as we are. Have them meet me at the edge of town. We're taking the town back, one bit at a time if we have to…."

It had been several months since Sunny arrived in this twisted up version of Ponyville where Flim and Flam have absolute rule. He, with the help of Big Macintosh, have gathered a small band of outraged ponies who wished to fight back against thy tyrany of the Flim Flam brothers. Banding togeather, the group of Sunny, as the leader, hidding as a homeless pony by day and master mind by night. Doctor Whooves as the tech support, coming up with the various gadgets needed to complete their missions. Derpy as a look out, her eyes able to keep watch in multiple directions at once. Big Mac as the muscle and structural expert, helping plan around the structure and frames of the buildings he's worked on. Octavia as the eyes and ears on the inside, working for Flim and Flam who enjoy the finger things, such as live classical music while they eat. Thunderlane as the strategist, working with Sunny and Big Mac to map out and plan both the diversions and get away for all parties involved. Together they make up a band of theives who strike Flim and Flam wher either hurts them the most. Their bank accounts.

For several months, Sunny and his band of theives have been breaking into Flim and Flam's businesses, stealing their bits and prized possessions, and leaving the place in utter disarray. Before seeing Ponyville as it now wss, Sunny would never have thought to turn to a life of crime and vandalism, but they didn't keep all the bits for themselves. No. Sunny and his friends had been helping ponies pay the fees and get out of town, hopefully on the road to a better life, as well as destroying as much of Flim and Flam's personal businesses as possible. Slowly but surely, Sunny and his group of friends were making a difference and actually helping the the ponies of FlimFlamville.

Once again, the night in FlimFlamville was silent, with Flim and Flam's personal police force patrolling the rows of identical houses, keeping an eye out for trouble. But what they aren't expecting was the national bank of FlimFlamville to burst into flames! The firess reached the sky and lit up the night. The town's fire ponies arrived moments later to douse the fire, but everything inside had been burned to ash, even the bits inside had been burned to little lumps of black steel. The police and fireponies were not thrilled that they would have to tell mayors Flim and Flam about this.

Meanwhile, about a mile or so outside of town, inside a cave, hidden by a large rock and natural looking moss and foliage, Sunny and his other friends appeared in a flash of green light. Everypony carrying a large bag of bits almost as big as they were! To hide their identities, they all dawned black cowls, say for Sunny, who wore the only dark colored costume he could find in the theater's costume department, a very fightning Badger from a fall play years before Flim and Flam took over the town. Incase any of the group ever got caught, Sunny wanted to be the one to take the fall, so he wanted to stand out apart from his friends. Make it seem like he was the leader and they just his followers. That, and anypony else would be more drawn to look at a pony dressed as a badger as opposed to somepony dressed in black. After all, this all was his idea.

"Y'all did great tonight, guys!" Sunny said with an optimistic smile on his muzzle as he took off the Badger mask. "Now we just need to divide up the bits. I think Cheerilee was next. We also needed to get her some bits for new school supplies…"

"We want out" Thunderlane said in a flat tone as he stepped forward.

Sunny paused and looked back at his friends with more then just a little confusion and raising concern. "Out?… you mean…"

Knowing he wasn't going to finish his sentance, Octavia stepped forward this time, her face like stone as she added "and we're taking the bits with us. We're getting out of this terrable town and starting new lives elsewhere."

"But, guys, we're supposed to help the ponies of the town, first!" Sunny began to plea to his friends. "You know the plan, rob from Flim and Flam, give the bits to the townsfolk to help them get out of town, maybe mess up Flim and Flam's stores or businesses a little to have them think its all an act of rebellion or something."

"Flim and Flam just raise their fees or cut what pay the ponies in town urn" Octavia countered, her expression never faltering.

"And ah hate ta tell ya this, but th' heat is really coming down on everypony. New police force ponies are patroling every corner of the town now, and there was talk of bringin' in th' royal guard" Big Mac chimmed in. "Sunny, ya seem like ah real nice guy, and ah know ya mean well but…"

"But we've had enough" Doctor was the next one to speak up. "We're not vigilantes! We are simple townsfolk! A scientist, a wonderbolt in training, a musician, a farmer and a mail mare. The only pony who seems even remotely right for this line of work is you! And you are utterly clueless to the consequences of your actions!"

Doctor's words hurt, and as Sunny stood there, looking at all his friends, he faught hard to find the strength to form words. "How long have you know about all of this? …How long have you all known that our efforts were useless? And why didn't anypony tell me? We could have done something else to help the town… we could have figured something else out…"

"For the past week" Thunderlane spat out. "Found out as soon as they added a 'flying in town air space' fee and cut Big Mac's pay in half."

Big Mac hung his head low, almost looking on the verge of tears. "Ah had hope that we'd get th' farm back… it was ah long shot. But ah saw hope and promise in what we were doin'. But now… now all ah see is some dreamer who can't make dreams come true. Ya just keep fightin' without knowin' what yer doin' ta everypony else around ya. And ah'm done being lead bah the blind.

"Ah'm gettin' mah sisters and leavin'" Big Mac concluded as he slowly started to walk out.

"B-but what about Granny?" Was all Sunny thought about as he saw his good friend turn his back on him.

Big Mac didn't turn around as he answered "Can't afford ta take them all. Granny made me promise if it came down to it, that ah should take mah sisters and get them outta here. She said she'd want them ta have ah better life. We can't afford ta come back... So we'll say our goodbyes in the mornin'…"

Sunny wanted to stop him, to tell him that there was another way, that they could find another way,, that they just needes to think and work togeather. But Thunderlane stopped him. "You need to let him go."

Defiance rattled inside of Sunny like thunder in that moment, but quickly gave way to defeat. He signed and walked back, slightly deeper into the dark section of the cave. "Fine. Its fine. Go. I understand. I was foolish to go all in, fire on my hooves, thinking I could solve this problem like some sort of masked hero… you all should just go..."

The tone in Sunny's voice was unsettling to the remaining others. Octavia, Doctor, and Thunderlane all looked back and forth nervously at eachother, afraid to move. They had seen what Sunny could do to a building, and had witnessed him freeze guards in their tracks with dark magic. They didn't expect retaliation from him when they told him the news, and were thinking it might have been better to have just left him a note.

"If you all are going to leave, I won't stop you" Sunny's voice was more shaky as he spoke, taking in a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

Now the others all saw why his tone was so unsettling. He was on the verge of tears and fighting desperately to keep them down. All three of them wondered why this bothered them so much to see him this upset, but it did. And without looking back, Octavia, Thunderlane, and Doctor Whooves took their bag of bits and left the cave. They didn't know why, but there was a part of them that didn't want to leave Sunny the way they were, but there was no hope in the road he traveled. Doctor paused and looked back at Derpy, who just signaled for him to go on, and that she's be along shortly.

Once those three were gone, Sunny allowed some tears to escape as he looked down onto his badger costume, thinking how foolish he had been. He thought if he worked with his friends, that they could over come anything. That all he needed was the help of his friends. But that wasn't apparently so. He wasn't Twilight Sparkle, who only needed her firnds to overcome any trial, defeat any foe. No. He was… just Sunny. The more he thought about it, the more Sunny realized he was just being foolish.

A hoof found Sunny's shoulder, and the yellow unicorn turned to face Derpy's wall eyed stare. She smiled gently at Sunny and told him "I know you did your best. We all did. We all just wanted a better life for everypony. You're a good pony deep down. We just made some mistakes."

Releasing a heald sigh, Sunny smiled and patted Derpy's hoof with his shoulder. "Thanks Derpy… atleast I still have the element of kindness on my s-"

Before Sunny could finish what he was saying, Derpy slammed something onto his horn, knocked him over onto his side, then with movements quicker and more precise then anything Sunny ever dreamed she was capable of, Derpy slapped hoof cuffs on both his back and front hooves.

Sunny didnt know what to think as he struggled to break free of his restraints. Looking up at Derpy with great confusion, he asked her in wounded voice, being winded from the fall. "What is this..?"

"Payment" Derpy said as she looked down at Sunny, eyes full of sadness as she stepped away and made her way towards the entrance of the cave.

Just then, the boulder that conceiled their little hide out was destroyed in a magical blast and a small army of Flim and Flam's police force stored the cave, circling around Sunny.

"Well, well, well, what have we here, brother of mine?" Flim's all too familiar voice bounced off the cave's walls. And soon Flim and Flam themselves were standing over Sunny, looking at his squirm in his shackles on the floor of the cave.

"Well, dear brother of mine, it appears it's that trouble maker who's been stealing from us" Flam answered his brother as the both began to chuckle at their victory.

"Derpy, you sold me out?" Sunny hissed at the shamed grey mare in the corner, trying to cast a spell, butbthe magical retraining ring on his horn wouldn't let him cast even the most basic of spells.

Derpy just took a breath, held it, put on a stern look dn marched over to Flim and Flam. When she spoke, her voice was the hardest and coldest Sunny had ever heard. If he wasn't looking directly at her, he would have sworn it was anypony else 'but' Derpy. "A deal's a deal. Right? You got them. Now I get to go, no strings attached."

"But of course, my dear" Flim slyly said as he pulled a small bag of bits from under his hat and gave it to the grey pegasus.

"That is for your troubles" Flam started to say. "And movers will be by your place later to move you to Filllydelphia, free of charge."

"And all fees are waved" Flim concluded as both the brothers took their hats off to Derpy. "A pleasure doing business with you."

Derpy began to leave immediately after Flim and Flam returned their attention back to Sunny, pushing past the group of Flim and Flam's personal police force.

"You and your gang really gave us trouble, Badger, or should we call you Sunny?" Flim smiled, looking down at the bound yellow unicorn.

"But thanks to that kind mare's brave heroism, we now have the whole collection of crimminals" Flam smiled and waved to the hired police ponies.

The police ponies then dragged in Big Mac, Doctor Whooves, Thunderlane, and Octavia, all hoofcuffed and gagged, shrouded in a thick feeling of betrayal.

"Let them go! It's ME you want!" Sunny yelled, lundging as best he could in the position he was in.

"You may be the ring leader of this circus, but these ponies went along with it and were about to walk off with bits they stole from us. That makes them thieves just as much as you" Flim declared as he held his head triumphantly high.

"No! You don't get it! I-I-I was the one who tricked them into helping me! I blackmailed them! They didn't have a choise!" Sunny was doing his best to lie, but he couldn't think up a good enough one on the spot. Not one that could fool Flim and Flam, anyway.

"Nice try, Badger, but we heard everything that went on" Flam paced with his brother, walking up and down the line of captured ponies.

"Yes, its really a sad thing we heard" Flim added, still a popus tone in his voice, believing himself to be better then the ponies that were restrained.

"Indeed, brother of mine, very sad what we heard" Flam agreed with his brother, nose still in the air. "For one's own friends to abandon him, despite his misguided efforts."

"'True' friends would have sat down and talked this all out. But you know what they say, no honor amungst thieves, right, dear brother?" Flim asked Flam as they stopped pacing.

"Agreed, dear brother" Flam gave a large smile. "Now, what should we do with these poor, misguided folks?"

"We do have that minning site up at the base of Canterlot, you know, the one with all those emeralds?" Flim reminded his brother.

"Ah yes! We did squeeze the rights to mine there out of the princesses. Didn't we?" Flam rubbed his chin, enjoying their cleaver misdeads that had benefited them so much.

"We did indeed, brother of mine" Flim smiled, enjoying the thought of turning a protif off free labor. "And it will all be in the name of rehabilitation! Why have criminals sit around in a prison cell when there's free labor-, i mean, rehabilitating correctional activities to be done."

"Right you are, brother of mine" Flam agreed, but their eyes turned to Sunny. "But this one, he might be a little too cleaver for that. We can't risk him 'inspiring' others to misbehave and break the law.…"

"Guess we'll have to cut our losses and just ship him off to the Ironlock prison." Flim signed. "I hate to spend the money on the ride over there, but we really can't risk him getting lose."

"It will be worth it, brother of mine, for us to sleep easy at night knowing our money-,I mean, town, is safe from this dastardly villain!" Flam explained.

"Agreed, brother of mine" Flim nodded. Both the Flim Flam brothers' smiles stretched from ear to ear as they looked down once again at Sunny and his 'friends'.

Sunny knew he had been beat, sighed, and wondered how long until this warped reality fades away like all the rest, becoming nothing more then a horrid memory.

The world seemed to ripple once again, with only Sunny feeling the waves of magic and time reset itself once more. How many more times of rewinding the clock can somepony do before time itself shatters, Sunny wondered.

Before Sunny could get an answer, he woke up in his crater again, having just been released from his father's imprisoning spell, again, and the rock he was bound to. As Sunny climbed out of the crater, Sunny could only imagine what upside down world he was in this time. Was Filthy Rich ruler of Equestria? Maybe equestria was over run with Tatzlwurms. Or what if the Wonderbolts broke up and because of that pegasi refuse to control the weather!

When Sunny put his hoof on the edge of the crater and pulled himself out, what he saw was far worse then anything he could ever imagine. His heart sank as he looked out upon what could be described as a baren wastland. No buildings, no trees, no rivers, no meadows. Just miles and miles of endless shriveled up, dried earth being brushed over by harsh winds filled with dirt. He was the only creature around. The last pony. This was the end of Equeatria.…

Author's Note:

Originally I had a plan to make each of Sunny's New Guardian friends a parody of avenger, even had huge notes ont her costumes, but i wanted to keep this short, so i kept the notes aside and might revisit the notes for a future chapter. But i'll cross that bridge later. Maybe. And if you all haven't noticed, I kinda set up all these chapters to have dark, hopeless endings to show how bleak these worlds could be without the power of friendship.

I also had several other plot devices I was considering when I was writing this chapter and had to rewrite it 6 times, which is why its taken so long to edit these chapters. One plot device I thought about using was having Sunny instead of working with a team, acting more like V from 'V for Vendetta', but i needed a darker tone, like the other chapters in this group. Another ending I thought about using involved Sunny being held over Princess Celesria's head by Flim and Flim to gain further power. I also thought about having the entire group turn Sunny in, but it came to me to have Derpy betray everypony. I think having the most innocent one, and the one thst represents kindness betray him to be the best route to go.