Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Das Empire Express

"I can hardly believe it! I'm going to be a grand mother!" Twilight Velvet exclaimed with great excitement, which then turned to great horror as dread spread across her muzzle, she pulling her checks down with her hooves. "Oh my goodness! I'm going to be a GRAND mother!!!"

"Honey, honey, its ok" her husband, Night Light patted her on the back, his tone relaxed and calm as he smiled at his worried wife. "Remember? Walks in the park with our little grandfoal? Playing in the sandbox again?"

The grey mare began to relax and breath easier as her mind drifted off to better times ahead. Her voice toned down now to almost a slumbering murmer. "And baking cookies, feeding them in the high chair, bath time, oh Nighty, its just like when Twilly and Shinny were little!"

Sunny watched the couple as they interacted in the seats infront of him. He had just picked them up at the Canterlot train station, their whole group heading to the Crystal Empire to see the new foal in the family.

Sunny had gone to pick Twilights parents up as a favor to the princess of friendship. Without being accompanied by a royal, her parents wouldn't be allowed in the castle. Sunny was more then happy to do it. What are friends for, right? Besides, Sunny was curious about Twilight's parents; how they interacted with one another, how they talked about things, how they just walked about other ponies even. It was all odd to him to see parents acting like any other pony. It was so different from his own world, it was almsot like fairy tail, or more, what comes after happily ever after. After the princess and her prince ride off into the sunset.

The train was moving at a decent speed, they should arrive in the Crystal Empire within a few short hours. Sunny didn't mind, though. Where most ponies would engage in conversation, or those who were bord enough would stare blankly out the windows or fall asleep, Sunny just sat back and watched Twilights parents. The way they interacted it was fasinating to him. The way they could read eachother, the way they talked to eachother, was this what older couples were like? Not old like Granny, but couples who have been married for years, lived with eachother, did couples things like celebrate anniversaries and picked out furniture and dishes and what not.

"Honey, what do you think?" Night Light had a large photo album on his lap, with a few boxes of pictures laying around him. His wife flipping through some pictures she pulled out of one of the boxes, was able to tear her attention away from a picture to look at what her husband had been working on. "I was thinking of having a page, here, to put the new baby's picture, right next to Shiny."

"Awwww, his first picture" Twilight Velvet looked fondly over the picture, her eyes wide, hiked up by her large smile. She turned to her husband, her tone more relaxed, but still carried an undertone of excitement "Can you believe our baby is having a baby?"

"It's hard to imagine" Night Light stated as he put a hoof around his wife. "But we knew this day would come. I mean, they are married after all, and Cadence was always great with foals."

As the two held eachother dearly, embracing and comforting one another, gentle smiles on their muzzles, a million thoughts ran through Sunny's head; 'were my parents like this?', 'were Applejack's parents like this?'… then a dark thought popped into his head, one he pushed to the very back of his mind, but knew it would come to see the light one day… would Applejack want kids? They were still early into their relationship, so Sunny never brought it up. Sure, they had long conversations about what they would do when they got married; where the wedding would be held, where the honeymoon would be, living arrangments after the wedding. But foals never popped up in the conversation before. Some would say it was still too early in their relationship to talk about marriage, but Sunny and Applejack felt comfortable enough with eachother that they could talk about anything. But foals?

Watching Twilight's parents, they way they were acting, going on in what seemed to be their own little world, not caring about the other passengers, the train, or the scenery passing by the windows, it made Sunny smile. He could easily see Applejack and himself like that one day. But could they really fawn over the birth of a new baby. Maybe even their own!

Sunny suddenly felt lightheaded and got up really fast, looking around desperately for the bathroom.

"Is everything right, Sunny?" Twilight Velvet asked, looking up at Sunny, reminded of his presence.

"I'm fine-just, need to find the bathroom" Sunny stated then located it at the end of the train car.

Without waiting for a response, Sunny made a mad run for the restroom, running across several interesting characters along the way.

He managed to avoid disturbing a unicorn mare about his age, eyes wide open, muttering 'Big. Open. Spaces.' over and over again as her therapist, an older, unicorn stallion with a grey, balding mane and goatee sat next to her, sipping some tea and reading a newspaper repeated 'good, good, excellent job.' After them, Sunny almost tripped over a dog who was sleeping in the aisle. An older stallion, bald, rather chunky, chocolate brown colored, earth pony stallion wearing sunglasses to hide his blind eyes snapped at Sunny, waving a cane at him. Sunny appologized quickly before anything else could be said. The last pony Sunny came across was laying across the entry way to the bathroom. This pony was dressed in rags, but one could make out the wings under his torn and messy coat. He wore a wool cap, had facial hair that seemed to cover most of his muzzle say for his drooling mouth and his closed eyes. Unfortunately for Sunny, this seemingly homeless stallion was blocking his way to the bathroom, and he didn't know how long he could hold it.

Gently, Sunny nudged the sleeping stallion who reeked of rotten eggs. The stallion stirred, then rolled over, his back now to Sunny, but he was still asleep and still blocking the door. Sunny tried again. 'Sir, could you please move? I REALLY need to get to the bathroom!"

The stallion rolled over enough to look at Sunny with one squinted eye. "Hey! Do I bardge into YOUR house and ask to use the bathroom? Get out of MY house!"

Sunny was left a bit confused, but needing to use the bathroom badly. Not wanting to cause a sean or fight with the stallion, Sunny pulled a bit out of his hat and asked "please, I need to use the bathroom badly? Will this cover the toll for YOUR bathroom?"

The homeless stallion looked from the gold coin, to Sunny, then back to the coin. He swipped the bit, bit down on it to make sure it was real, then nudged out of the way for Sunny to proceed before promptly falling asleep again. Sunny quickly made it to the bathroom and dry heaved in the sink for about ten minutes before there came a light tapping at the door.

"Sunny" it was Twilight's father. "Are you ok in there?"

After splashing his face with some cold water, Sunny replied in the best kept voice he could muster "yes, sir! I'm fine! Dont worry! Just… got a little motion sick, I think."

"Oh, ok" Night Light replied, not sounding terribly convinced, but he knew from his years of being a father not to press such things. "Also, this gentlecolt out here said you owe him a bit for taking so long in HIS bathroom. But I got it, ok?"

"Thank you, sir, I'll pay you back" Sunny offered, still trying to steady himself.

"You can pay ME for the conversation!" The voice of the homeless colt chimmed up. "Then get out of MY house!"

A moment later, Sunny emerged from the bathroom, feeling a little light headed and parched, but better then he had felt a moment earlier. After giving the homeless stallion another bit, Sunny walked past the blind stallion and his dog, past the therapist and his patient, until finaly Sunny plopped down in his seat across from Twilight's parents and caught the attention of a train attendant. Sunny troubled the mare for a bottle of water, then asked Twilight's parents if they wanted anything, to which they declined the offer. Sunny chugged the bottle of water down and tried to relax. It was only after he finished the entire bottle that he noticed the concern looks he was getting from both Twilight Velvet and Night Light.

"Are you ok, Sunny?" Twilight Velvet spoke up first, her tone low and gentle, as if she was afraid Sunny might break if she spoke any louder.

"I'm alright, don't worry" Sunny put on his best smile, but the pair saw right through it.

"Anything you want to talk about, champ?" Night Light asked, earning a little chuckle from Sunny.

'Sounds like something a father would ask, I guess. Kinda wish my own father was here to talk to me about it.' Sunny thought to himself before returning his attention to Twilight's parents. "Ugh, well… how did you guys, ugh, feel about having foals? Like, when did you both…"

As Sunny's words trailed off, Twilight Velvet could tell he was struggling to find the right words to express what was bother him. "Oh, well, to be honest, we kinda knew before hoof that we wanted foals one day, even before we got married."

"When did you know you wanted to get married?" Sunny immediatly shot out the next quesgion, not letting his mind fill up any more quesgions.

"Oh didn't take us long to figure out" Night Light answered this time, nuzzling his wife's cheak. "It's something you just know deep down inside. Almost like that special somepony makes you feel whole, complete."

"Like you can be yourself around them?" Sunny adjusted his hat a little. "I'm sorry ta worry you folks. Guess my mind just starts running away with me. Got ah lot on mah mind."

"Or somepony in your heart?" Twilight Velvet smilled at Sunny. "You can't deny it. I saw the same look on Shinning's muzzle when he told me he proposed to Cadence."

Being compared to Shinning Armor gave Sunny mixed feelings. Enough to where he didn't want to talk about this anymore and had a way now to change the subject. "Shinning Armor… how did you guys come up with that name?"

"Now THAT is a great story!" Night Light's expression seemed to glow as he readied himself in his seat to tell the story. "See, it was one night before Twilight here was about to give birth, and we had been tossing around names when-"

Just when Night Light was getting to the good part of his story, the train came to a sudden stop, flinging almost every pony out of their seats, even the homeless stallion at the end of the cart ended up being flung to where Sunny and Twilight's Parents were. The stallion got up, grumbled and told everypony "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" before promptly taking a bench and falling back asleep on it.

"What's going on!?" The frantic mare from earlier asked her therapist who was now on the floor, his tea spilled all down the front of him and his papers scattered across the floor.

"Oh, we probably hit a patch of ice, nothing to worry about" the therapist tried to reasure her while he collected himself, acting rather calm, despite the mess.

Then the voice of the trains conductor came over some speakers "Everypony, This it the conductor speaking. It seems as though we've run into a bit of a snag in our trip. A sudden storm had coated the tracks with a tall blanket of snow. But no need to worry. Everything is going to be alright. Just, please, remain seated. We are working to clear the tracks as we speak."

"Oh, I hope the storm doesn't have anything to do with our new grandfoal" Twilight Velvet squeezed her husband's hoof.

"I'm sure its completly unrelated" Night Light did his best to reasure his wife.

Meanwhile, in the Crystal Empire, Shinning Armor and Cadence's daughter, a rather powerful pink, little alicorn had accidently destroyed the Crystal Heart that kept the barrier of the Empire up and shielded it from the harshness of the arctic tundra as well as kept monsters at bay. With it destroyed, a storm raged all around the Empire and began to spread out, threatening to coat all of Equestria in ice and snow. Princesses Celestia and Luna faught with all their magic to keep the storm contained while Cadence, Shinning Armor, Twilight and her friends did their best to repair the shattered Crystal Heart. But no pony on the train knew any of this was happening.

A moment later, the lights on the trains went out, and everypony began to panic. Just as this happened, the conductor chimmed in over the intercom again. "Everypony, we need you to remain calm. The trains power died, but our staff is working hard to get everything back online. Just remain in your seats and we'll be back on schedule in no-"

The intercom cuts off abrutly. And after a moment of processing what was going on, everypony begins to panic.

The therapist from earlier begins screaming "it is the end! We're all going to freeze in this train!!!"

His patient put her hooves on his shoulders to help try and gound him the same way he helped to ground her. "Its OK, doctor. Just think: Big. Open. Spaces-"

But the therapist shook her off, his tone more frustrated then before "that garbage doesn't work, you idiot! We're all doomed!"

Twilight Velevet and Night Light looked distressfully at eachother, then did the only thing that seemed to bring them assurance. They embraced one another in a tight hug. Seeing this, a fire began buring deep inside Sunny, giving him the strength to stand up.

"EVERYPONY, CALM DOWN!" his royal canterlot voice momentarily sieced the movment of everypony in the train cart he was in, and unknowingly to himself, the train carts around theirs as well. "Now, this is just a little hiccup. We all need to relax and get ahold of ourselves. Otherwise we're going to cause more trouble then there actually is."

"Hey, is something wrong with your dog?" The train attendant from earlier looked over at the blind old stallion, his dog had collapsed, laying on the ground and breathing heavily.

"What? Killer? What's wrong, boy?" The blind stallion fell to the ground, dropping his cane and began feeling around desperately for his pet.

Twilight Velevet hopped up out of her seat and bolted over to the ill dog. "Let me see him. I worked with animals for years in Canterlot…"

When everypony was distracted, Sunny used this as an opertunity to sneak out of the cart and find a way to help get this train rolling again. Before he slid out the door connecting the carts, Night Light put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Be careful" the blue colt told him. "I'll do my best to keep them calm."

Sunny nodded, then slipped out as quietly as he could. The storm outside was growing wild and dangerous, making Sunny almost want to change into his umbrum form, knowing the ice and snow wouldn't effect him in that form, but he couldn't put his mind in the dark state nessisary to make the change. The fire buring inside him, giving him the will to protect, wouldn't let him become that dark creature. So he pressed on, the hoping winds pushing him back as snow flakes hit him like pebbles.

Back inside the train cart, Night Light walked over to his wife who had just helped Killer, deliver HER litter of puppies. The blind stallion had a smile a mile wide on his muzzle as he both comforted his dog and thanked everypony for their help.

It was then the homeless stallion rolled over and grumbled "Hey!-"

But everypony else having heard his catchphrase one too many time before just replied "we know, we know, 'get out of YOUR house'."

"Actually, I got something else to day" the homeless stallion pulled a dirty harmonica out of his jacket and blew a tune in it before chiming into a poorly constructed song everypony was sure he was making up as he went:

"Lets all hold hooves,
Here on the train,
Couse we've been stuck here in the cold,
For way too long!"

Before everypony knew it, they all began singing along, holding hooves with one another, singing this song that didn't rhyme and was poorly written, but did seem to warm their hearts and their spirits, just like their ancestors on the very first Hearths Warming.

The howling winds seemed to grow louder, the winds more violent as the snow that hit Sunny's body seemed to grow and hit harder. But Sunny couldn't give up. Everypony in there was counting on him to get them to the Crystal Empire safely. Twilight's parents, the other passengers, and maybe even to a degree, the homeless stallion. The more he thought about it, the less the cold seemed to bother him. His body began to burn with a drive Sunny hadn't felt since he pulled Applejack out of her dream with Charming Knightmare. He had felt this inner energy before, but it was always when he was with his friends. But now he was on his own, and again bearing the weight of others on his shoulders. Fear of failure wanted to creep its way into his heart.

'You are stronger then you believe' his mother's words found Sunny, giving him the last push he needed and drove the fear from his heart.

His body burned so hot it began to melt the ice and snow all around him, like a protective fire barrier from the storm. The howls of the wind never reached his ears, the snow that would have hit his body melted away before they ever touched him. Sunny quickly broke into a gallop and began running up to the front of the train where several ponies, covered in thick layers of jackets, wool hats, goggles and mittens, were working hard to shovle snow off the track and pick at the ice that froze the front of the train.

Jumping off the train, Sunny made his way to where they were working, the snow melting from where his hooves landed. Sunny noticed but didn't acknowledge the odd fact that everypony seemed much shorter then he remembered.

"Need a hoof?" He asked, his voice even sounded different. Slightly deeper.

Eveeypony was amazed at what stood before them. A unicorn stallion as tall as the princess of the sun, his two toned orange mane flickered and moved like fire itself, and yellow body hot enough to melt the snow around him had just appeared in their darkest hour! No pony could say a word, just nod in response.

"Well, I'm always happy to led a hoof where I can…" Sunny spoke again as he put his front hooves on the train, making sure to keep his back hooves on the track.

Taking several deep breaths, not really knowing what he was doing, but also not think too much about it, Sunny began to focus on the outer part of the train, the rails of the track and the area around the track. He pictures the ice melting away, then a layer of magic covering it all, to prevent further freezing. As he thought it, his magical green aura coated the train and the track. The train itself seemed to shine brighter then it ever had in all its years, as if some force was giving it the strength to be the best it can be, and travle the best it had ever done. The train track that was buried under snow began to glow as well, and the snow and ice that rerouted it seemed to melt away, leaving it open for miles and miles, seemingly all the way to the Crystal Empire!

The track was clear and the engin of the train flared back to life renewed and ready to move! The crew cheered and hopped back on the train. Before anypony could thank the mysterious tall unicorn with the fire like mane, he jumped up ontop of the train and began running back to his own train cart. Slowly, his body began shrinking back to its normal size, his mane stopped flickering and returned to its messy mop like state. When Sunny snuck back into the train cart where he left Twilight's parents, he could hear ponies chanting inside.

"Lets all hold hooves,
Here on the the train,
Couse we've been stuck here in the snow
For way too long!
Oh its cold,
And we're scared,
But since we got
now where to go,
Let's just all get along!"

When Sunny rejoined the group, he noticed the blind stallion's dog was curled up on the therapist's news paper with a litter of puppies she appeared to be feeding.

Sunny snuck up next to Night Light and grabbed his and another pony's hoof as they all continued singing the chant, the train still moving at top speed, cutting through the storm like a hot knife through butter. It wasn't until the train was almost at the Crystal Empire train station that the storm died down and the spell Sunny put on the train wore off. The train and track was no longer glowing, but the train still appeared brand new, keeping its shine and youthful characters.

As everypony filed off the train, the homeless stallion thanked them for taking HIS house for the ride and to get out of HIS house, but to also come again.

Twilight's parents and Sunny were greeted by Applejack, Twilight, her friends, Cadence, Shinning Armor, some orange unciorn stallion Sunny had never met before, and between Cadence and Shinning Armor must have been their baby. Sunny was shocked to see the young filly, partly becouse she was an alicorn foal, which Sunny had never seen before. That, and the little filly had the biggest pair of wings he had ever seen! They's be big on a filly five times her age! Despite that, she seemed very sweet, cuddling up to her mother who held her against her in a blue magical aura.

"You would not believe the crazy weather that delayed the train" Night Light stated to everypony gathered to greet them. "Came out of nowhere."

"But it was all worth it to see this perfect little angel" Twilight Velvet added as she approached her grandfilly. "Awww. So sweet. Come to your grandmare."

The little filly woke up and stretched out her hooves to Twilight Velvet.

"Yeah, peaceful now, anyway" Applejack commented, Sunny walking up to her side, giving him a hug, to which he returned the hug and kissed her on the cheek.

"Yeah, that spell really did the trick" Twilight added, sounding relieved.

"Awww, what's the matter? Little tyke give ya ah hard time?" Sunny joked.

"You have no idea, ah have quite the story ta tell ya later 'bout th' 'little tyke'" Applejack told Sunny.

That's when they overheard Twilight's mother tell Cadence and Shinning Armor that they can't just keep calling her 'the baby.'

"We were thinking about, Flurry Heart" Cadence smiled, turning her head and smiling in agreement with her husband. "You know, to remember the occation."

"Oh goodness, how could anypony ever forget?" Rarity chimmed in.

"I think its lovely" Twilight commented, leaning in and planting a small kiss on Flurry's nose, causing the filly to giggle.

After saying their goodbies,Applejack, Twilight and their friends all piled into the train. Before anypony got settled in, Sunny motioned for Applejack, asking her if she would mind sitting with him, alone. She could tell he had something on his mind. The rest of the girls, minus Twilight and Spike, who were having a deep conversation on their own, all sat togeather. Sunny and Applejack took up a seat near the back where the homeless stallion had once been but it seemed he got off or went to another cart.

"What's on yer mind, Sugar Cube?" Applejack could tell something was eating at her coltfriend.

Taking a deep.breath to steady himself, Sunny plainly asked "Applejack… you know I love you, right?"

"Yeah?" Applejack's worry began to raise.

"And you know you mean the world to me, right?" Sunny asked another quesgion that was still beating around the bush.

"And you do ta me too, Sugercube, but what's bothering ya?" Applejack was wanting to get right to the point.

Taking one last deep breath, Sunny looked with worried eyes to his marefriend and asked her, hoping it wouldn't frighten her off "Applejack… do you ever think about having foals?"

Applejack's face went redder then Big Mac. She had to admit, she wasn't expecting that quesgion. "Ugh, well, Sugercube, ah kinda, er, ya see... ah think marriage should come first. Least, that's how ah was raised. And well, ugh,-"

"Of course, I agree" Sunny added, not wanting Applejack to get the wrong idea. "It's just… when you get married, one day, you're gunna want to have kids, right?"

"Well, shoot, yeah" Applejack sounded more sure of herself and a little more relaxed. But she could tell something was still gnawing at Sunny. "Don't you?"

Sunny scratched the back of his head, pushing his hat forward a bit. "Honestly… I don't know."

Scooching closer to Sunny, Applejack grabbed his hoof in hers. "What's the matter, Sugercube. Ya know you can tell me anything."

Taking one last deep breath, Sunny just got to the point. "I don't know if I could ever be a good parent. I watched Twilight's parents, and it was just like watching you and me. The way they acted around one another, the way they talked, supported one another, they were eachother's whole world. But then I saw how they got so excited about their grandfoal, and their world seemed to just expand, and I just…"

"Yer scared" Applejack stated. "Yer worried ya can't cut it."

"My father was great, and when I was around my mother, she was wonderful. But I don't know what 'normal' parents are like, and well…" Sunny trailed off.

"No parents are alike" Applejack stated. "And maybe we won't be the best, maybe we will. We shouldn't try ta be just like our folks, or anypony elses folks. We just need ta be ourselves. But all we can do is offer our little ones our love and guidance and hope they can find their right path."

Hearing Applejack's words brought tears to Sunny's eyes and he pulled her into an embracing and warm hug. Applejack smiled as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmess of his hug. Then, after a few moments, started to wonder how he was covering this much of her with his body and hooves. She almost felt like she was being hugged by a bear.

When Applejack opened her eyes, she was shocked to find Sunny was atleast three times as tall as he was, lengthy, his horn stretched out almost scrapping the ceiling of the train cart, and his mane grew and looked like a large camp fire!

"Ugh, Sugercube?" Applejack started to asked, poking Sunny.

"Yeah, sweetie" Sunny asked, his eyes still closed, he was lost in the blissful moment of holding his special somepony who had relieved the stress that had once weighed heavily on his heart.

Seeing him happy like that pushed the need to tell him about his new look, and Applejack returned to just holding and being held by her special some pony. HER knight in shinning armor. Who she wouldn't mind in the least having foals with one day… after the marriage of course!

Author's Note:

So for those of you who watch 90's nickelodeon shows, I'm sure you saw a huge part of this chapter was a shout out to the Hey Arnold episode 'Das Subway. I had been planning this chapter since I saw the episode with Flurry Heart. I really liked this one becouse it gave Sunny the transition from child seeking love from his own parents to thinking of himself being a parent one day. That's really important because everyone needs to grow up and branch out from their parents at some point. That's not to say they can't go to them for advice or to spend quality time with them, but everyone and everypony needs to grow up and start thinking about what they want out of life.

Maybe there will be a chapter where Sunny and AJ have kids, maybe not.

Guess you'll just have to keep reading to see ;)