Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Rosewood's Puppet Army

"I don't know how this could have happened" Sunny staired at the cage that was used to hold the rouge pony puppets, now completly empty. After a brief feast with King Aspen and his family, Sunny returned to the Apple Farm to retrieve the rouge pony puppets to bring them back to the deer king and return their wild spirits to the wood and leaves of the everfree, remaking the Timberwolves. Four guards were sent with Sunny to aid him in their retrieval. They were all shocked to see an empty cage and no pony puppets to be seen, but Sunny was more then just a little concerned. The thought of the havoc the puppets could wreak on Ponyville made Sunny sick to his stomach.

Turning quickly to face the deer guards king Aspen sent with him, Sunny spoke with great urgency in a hard tone "This is bad. If those things had the spirit of Timberwolves they could be working togeather! They could go after the town!"

The deer looked to eachother with calculating concern, as if telepathically sharing images of what destruction the pony puppets could cause based on what they saw of the one they captured. The Captain, a deer who could be distinguished from the others by the slightly more detailed armor he wore, stepped forward and started giving orders to the other deer guards. "You two, go back to the King, tell him of this. We will stay behind and investigate the situation."

As the two deer guards left, dashing off as fast as they could back into the Everfree forest, Sunny took a moment to observe the ground. He noticed something really odd.

"The cage isn't broken" the deer captain stated, drawing Sunny's attention away from the floor and back to the cage.

Sunny looked up, noticing that the cage, was infact, not damaged beyond a few scratches and dings. Sunny become more and more puzzled as he drew the guards attention to the floor. "Look at this; The hoof prints on the floor."

"Pony?" The guard stated, looking from them to Sunny.

"At first glance, but look…" Sunny made a fresh print with his hoof in the same dirt. "Mine are deeper then those. They have about the same circumstance, but whatever made these weighed alot less then a regular pony."

"The puppets?" The guard raised a brow.

"Yes, but the weirdest thing, you saw how wild the one was that you guys had" Sunny pointed out, remembering the rouge puppet.

"Yes, so?" The guard was unamused, not connecting any dots.

"So? Look at these hoof prints here" Sunny brought his attention back to the hoof prints in the dirt on the barn floor. All of them were organized, as if the puppets were standing attention attention.

"They look like they calmed down?" The captain guard guessed, looking at the light hoof prints, trying to piece things together.

"Or somepony or something was controlling them…" Sunny mumbled. He couldn't do this alone. If he needed the help of somepony, and not just any new muzzle. The deer seemed pleasant company, and slightly friendly, but Sunny felt more confident that his friends would be more successful at solving this mystery. Turning to the deer guard captain, Sunny stated nervously "I need to get to my friends, now. And possibly Princess Twilight."

"I don't think we have time for that, sirs" the guard who remained behind and silent up till then was peaking outside from the Barnes cracked door, his eyes wide and irises shrank with shocking disbelief.

Sunny and the captain Deer guard moved to where he was standing, and cautiously peered out the same crack. They couldn't believe their eyes when they saw it, but it was real.

An army of what must have been a hundred pony puppets were alive, clicking and chattering their jaws and limbs as they marched in unison. Puppets of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike, all appearing to have variant metal parts attached to their wooden bodies, possible possessing different abilities. One giant puppet of a dragon stood above the rest of the puppets and marched slowly at the center of their army, making sure not to crush any of its companions. And atop its back was none other then Rosewood herself, doning a dark red cloak and a black wooden crown. She had some sort of large wooden box positioned behind her, wrapped in chains.

"Wow Nelly..." Sunny stated as he readjusted his stetson hat. "Ugh. Think we found our missing puppets..."

"Halt, my brothers and sisters!" Rosewood called out to the puppets who paused their march, stopping just about fifty yards from the edge of the Everfree forest to turn to their leader. All dulled blue eyes of the hundred puppets looked to Rosewood, even the puppet dragon turned its head in an unnatural way to look upon her."Today, we take the Everfree for ourselves! We extinguish the threat of the deer! And then, we conquer Ponyville, flush out the ponies, make the town our home base! And then, we take over the rest of Equestria!!!"

As Rosewood chuckled like mad, the puppets senced the joy from her and began stomping their hooves and clicking their jaws in support.

"She isn't normally like this… she's really normally, very sweet… " Sunny mumbled to the deer guards, a little embarrassed by her behavior. "I-I'll go talk to her…"

The two deer guards who remained behind watched as Sunny ran up to the head of the army of puppets, trying to get Rosewood's attention. The captain deer guard told his remaining subordinate to warn the king and ready their village for battle. The deer guard saluted his captain, saluted his captain, then snuck quietly out the window, making sure to stay out of sight of the puppet army.

Rosewood atop her mighty wooden dragon steed was feeling an exhaustion that was foreign to her, but her spirit was driven by her righteous cause to keep her puppet family safe. If she showed Equeatria, the deers, the ponies, and every other creature alive that the puppets were a force to be reckoned with, then her puppet kin would be safe. The other creatures would fear and respect them, and never turn them into fire wood!

Earlier that day….

Rosewood traveled a great distance with her small hurd of pony puppets trailing behind her, and in little to no time, they reached the secret workshop of her missing father. A small shack like structure at the base of a mountain stood her father's old home and workshop. But hidden in the wall of the small shop that connected with the mountain, was a secret passage that fed into a large storage area, where her father kept his completed work. She had stayed in the small hut like structure, if not close to there for almost 1000 years, safe guarding her father's home and work. It was full of tools her father used to create pony puppets of all shapes and sizes, each one with different abilities. She had no idea why her father built all these puppets or why he didn't want her to tell her uncle Sunny about them, but she was about to put the to good use.

Stepping into the hallowed part of the mountain, Rosewood flipped a switch, which illuminated the entire area. A storage facility about the size of a hoofball feild, packed with pony puppets who remained dormant and in tact for 1000 years, safe from the elements that could harm them. They were all lined up carefully in rows, folded up nicely, waiting for the moment they would spring to life. Rosewood smiled when she approached the one closest to her. Putting her hoof over her heart, Rosewood closed her eyes and made her wish silently. 'I wish all these puppets to have life. To live, to move on their own, to dream, to feel, to fear, to brave that fear. To be like me.'

Her heart star in her chest glowed a bright whitish blue color, illuminating the entire area with a more majestic aura. Light from her chest flew out and fluttered around like fireflies, each one landing on a different puppet. One even landing on the chest of a rather large, dragon shaped puppet in the back. The twenty puppets Rosewood had brought with her had watched the whole ordeal in silent awe, their blue and dark green swirling eyes glazed over. The puppets before them took the light into their bodies and began to shake. Their joints rattling, their jaws clicking, and lights of their own eyes flaring to life, a dull blue color showed they had some life, but just barley.

By the end of her wish, Rosewood felt slightly weaker, but with a new drive. In the moments following her wish, she saw a bright new world. A world where her puppet brothers and sisters could not only live in peacefully, but florish! A world where they could own their own houses, run their own stores, create their own offspring, repair their own kind, and live out their own individual dreams! But there was a dark side to it as well.

She saw an upcoming battle. Not every creature would leave them in peace. Those who only saw them as THINGS would treat them as such. Steal them from their homes, separate loved ones for their own financial gain, take them apart to learn how they worked, manipulate their bodies to fit their own ideas, force them to participate in stage shows! And worse, when it was all over, and they we no longer of use to their oppressors, Rosewood saw the bodies of many pony puppets being tossed into a fire, keeping their oppressors warm during those cold winter nights!

Rosewood remembered the cruel and frightened eyes of those who found out what she was. The way they treated her for those 1000 years that she was not with her uncle. And she would not let this horrible future come true for either her or her kind!

So what if they were MADE and not BORN, they were living creatures too. SHE was a living creature. And they all deserved to be treated like any other creature!

Rosewood walked over to her father's work station, grabbed a chunk of wood and some tools and went right to work on something. While the now living pony puppets yawned and creaked to life, stretching their hooves and testing how their bodies could bend and move, taking their first steps that weren't controlled by a master, Rosewood was working hard on her project. In moments the carving was complete, then she took some brushes and some paint and began adding the finishing touches. While the paint dried, Rosewood grabbed a large silk table cloth her father would keep on a table for more delicate projects, pulled it off and wrapped it around her neck like a cape. Once that was done she turned and faced her puppet brethren.

"My fellow puppets, pony or otherwise" she spoke loudly enough for her voice to reach every puppet, collecting all their attention. A sea of dim blue eyes now locked onto her. "I have given you life, for you all deserve it! You all were made with love and care by the same father, my father!

"But it seems have to take up arms! We have enemies who wish to reduce us to nothing more then ash and dust!" Rosewood's tone turned dark as she tried to spread fear and anger amongst her kind, to spur them to action. "I will not stand for this! I plan to take on these enemies, to teach them that we aren't just firewood! That we have a right to live! Who among you will join me! Who wants to fight for the right to live!?"

Although the little bit of life the other puppets were given wasn't enough for them to think much beyond that of a 2 year old, they did understand the fear and anger Rosewood had presented to them as well as the bravado that shined in her eyes. They knew she was a leader and that she was just like them. As a result of that acknowledgement, all the puppets, pony or otherwise, began stomping their hooves and chanting out the name they knew her by. A name that rang off the walls, a name they instantly respected, the name of the one who brought them to life.

"ROSEWOOD! ROSEWOOD! ROSEWOOD! ROSEWOOD! ROSEWOOD! ROSEWOOD!" All the puppets chanted as Rosewood took her project, paint now dry, and placed it on her head. A wooden crown, painted black, fit for a wooden queen.

"Now my brethren, follow me, and I shall lead you into battle!" She called out as the giant dragon puppet stepped forward, kneeling down enough to allow her to climb upon his back and take a seat next to a sealed box, wrapped with chains. Rosewood didn't open the box, but instead refocused on her pre-battle speech. "Let us head now, back to the Everfree forest, and show those Deer we puppets are not one to mess with!"

The collective puppets cheered as they began to march, with Rosewood upon the dragon puppet leading them. Every puppet marching in unison, say for the 20 puppets that had come with her from the Everfree. There was a part of them that appeared to be in a bit of dissonance. But the one thing they knew; they needed to go back to the Everfree forest. So they marched in line with the rest of the puppets following Rosewood.

As Rosewood and her party reached the edge of the wild jungle that was called the Everfree forest, Rosewood halted her party. Standing before her was none other then her treacherous uncle. The one who destroyed a pony puppet, so coldly, before her very eyes!

"Ugh, Rosewood! Mind if ah talk to ya for ah minute?" Sunny called out, his aquired accent present.

From atop her dragon puppet stead, Rosewood looked down at him, narrowing her dimmed eyes and replied "what do you want, traitor?!"

"Traitor?!" Sunny repeated the word. "Now what in sam hill do ya mean by callin' me-"

"Don't act innocent!" Rosewood's response was hard and sharp. "I saw you turn that poor puppet to ash and dust, just to give those deer back a monstrous dog! You were willing to do it again, too!"

The army of puppets she was leading clicked their mouths, shook their metal hindges, and their glowing eyes seemed to flair as they fell upon the yellow unicorn.

"Let me explain!" Sunny tried to plead with her.

"NO!" Rosewood shut Sunny out as she stomped her hoof. "The time for talk is over!"

"If that is how you feel" a deep, commanding voice rang out from the forest. Sunny and Rosewood both turned to see King Aspen, bearing some kind of thick armor around most of his body, a spear under his seminary leg, pointing to the sky. His eyes narrowing on Rosewood and the other puppets. "Then I suppose we can't come to some sort of compromise."

King Aspen turned to the forest and let out a high pitched whistleling noise, the likes of which Sunny had never heard of before. A moment later a good three dozen or so armored deer guards emerged from the Everfree, appearing in armor much thicker then ther previous suits, that covered almsot their entire bodies. All the deer armed with spears, shields and long swords, ready for one dangerous battle.

"The time is now, my brothers and sisters! We will liberate ourselves from our oppressors!" Rosewood spoke to her kin, the puppets clicked and stomped their wooden hooves in response.

"Let us stand against these crimes against nature!" King Aspen spoke to his own company, the armored deer all cried out, but didn't appear to move much.

"ATTACK!!!" Rosewood commanded, her army behind her running, clicking, falling and getting up to charge the enemy.

"FOR THE EVERFREE!" King Aspen bellowed as he and his deer army fully emerged from the Everfree forest, running into battle, their heavier armor slowing them down slightly, but to them the extra weight was worth it.

Sunny stood in the middle, something deep, deep inside of him bubbling, boiling to the top, to where he could no longer sit by and do nothing. His body changed in a flash, growing almost three times the size, his mane growing and moving like a living flame, his horn and features becoming more lengthy and elegant, yet muscular. The opposing sides didn't take notice of his transformation until Sunny spoke out using the royal canterlot voice "STOP!!!"

A blast of green light erupted from Sunny's horn and spread like a magical barrier, coating every creature, puppet and deer, in a thick coat of Sunny's magical aura, stopping their bodies from moving. Every creature could do nothing but look around and wonder what had happened. They still could see, could hear, could think, but they lost the ability to move or speak. The tall, yellow unicorn with a firey mane and tail, that still stood in the middle of them coated his horn with his magical aura once more, but this time, he simply levitated the bodies of Queen Rosewood and King Aspen from their respective sides and brought them closer to him and within ear shot of eachother. Once they were where he wanted them, Sunny took the stillness spell off both of them.

"What is the meaning of this!?" King Aspen spoke first, outrage heavily coating his tone.

"Yeah! What do you think you're doing!?" Rosewood snapped at her uncle.

"I'm stopping you two from making a mistake" Sunny simply stated, his tone slightly deeper then before, throwing both Aspen and Rosewood a little off guard. "Listen, you both think that fighting off one another is the best way to defend your species. But you're wrong."

"I don't know who you are, colt, but I've been defending my kingdom for over 1000 years" King Aspen stated, now able to move his lips and speak. "I've dealt with medalsome ponies, fire breathing dragons and even business driven minatours. I can handle some oversized toys!"

"And I've observed ponies, dragons, griffins and more for the last 1000 years. Their internal and external affairs. I'm no stanger to conflict either. Me and my kind could trample right through a bunch of deer and not even get our hooves wet!" Rosewood stated, her tone showing she was just as hard and sure of herself as king Aspen.

"Then you both are fools!" Sunny growled, his eyes locking with theirs, a cold hard look in his eyes that chilled both Aspen and Rosewood to their cores. "Listen. Both of you. I know you're both ready to take up arms and defend your kind, but a war isn't going to help anycreature. Trust me. I know you're both very scared right now-"

"How dare you make such an accusation!" King Aspen interrupted Sunny, stomping his armored hoof.

"Why would I be scared of him?" Rosewood interjected as well, just as outraged.

"Its no use lying to me. I can hear both of you're deepest darkest fears" Sunny continued, pushing his way between the two of them. "Rosewood, you're afraid that you and your kind will be destroyed and tossed away like chunks of scrap, like garbage. And you, King Aspen, you're worried the outside world, with all the craziness of its modern ways and technologies, will destroy the world you've spent centuries protecting. Both of you aren't so different. You both are strong leaders, you both are very smart too. And I know that if you two weren't afraid for your own kind, you two could sit down and talk this out. And maybe, even become friends."

Sunny paused and bounced his softer more understanding gaze from King Aspen to Rosewood then back to Aspen again. "You two are about to start a war that won't just effect your tribes, your kind, but those who live near where you want to fight. So you both need to sit down and talk, or I'll stop the both of you. Right here. Before any damage is done to innocent folk."

"You talk so bold. Too bold.. you know no respect! Who do you think you are!? To talk to me, King Aspen, in such a manor!?" King Aspen snapped, stomping his hoof on the ground again as he raised his head as high as he could and looked down at Sunny.

"I am Prince Soleggiato, the son of Princess Celestia, a prince of Equestria, and the one known as the Black Knight." As tall as King Aspen was and as high as the deer king tried to raise his head, Sunny in his new celestial form was atleast a foot or two taller then he. It was Sunny's turn to show how intimidating he was by standing up strait and looking down on the deer king. "Do you still quesgion my authority? My right to pass judgment on this situation? Especially when you are trying to start a war not ten feet from my home!?"

Sunny pointed his dominant hoof over to where the edge of the Apple family farm stood. A white picket fence that gated it off near the Everfree forest, more as a decoration. At the archway, connected to a dirt road from the entrance of the Apple farm trailing into Ponyville, stood Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom, all watching with nervous looks, but forced smiles on their muzzles and waved when they saw Sunny point to them. Thet don't know what was going on, having all just arrived home, but they sure hoped Sunny had everything under control.

Seeing the Apples, an innocent bystander family witness him about to start a terrable fight, King Aspen suddenly felt guilt and shame. The image of his own wife and son popped into his head at that moment. What if THEY had seen him act like that? Start a war in such a manor, act the way he was acting at that moment. Speaking and acting more out of pride then in the best interests of deer kind. Of any kind.He knew he needed to act better then he had been. He needed to act like a king. A king his son would respect and look up to."I… suppose we could try deplomacy."

Looking over at the Apples as well, Rosewood felt ashamed of her quick actions. They had taken her in, treated her like family, showed her respect. Others may have shunned her and turned away from her, but they didn't. They opened up their home to her, treated her like family. And she was about to turn their front yard into a war zone! She hung her head low, but her eyes looked up at Sunny, her burning rage subsided "Yeah… deplomacy sounds good to me."

"I'm glad you both have reached a concensus" a small smile appeared on Sunny's muzzle as his hard gaze on the two rulers melted into a warmer one. "Now, we need to figure out how to extract the wild Timberwolf spirits from the puppets safely without destroying the puppets they inhabit. Does that sound like a good place to start?"

Both Aspen and Rosewood nodded in agreement.

Before Sunny could suggest either doing research into Everfree history and magic or going to Twilight for assistance, three dark pillars seemed to grow from the horizon.

"I believe WE can help with that" a familiar voice called out.

Sunny narrowed his eyes on the three dark pillars approaching them. They were three beings he hadn't seen in a long, long time. Each dawning a silk, dark colored cloak that hid everything about them. The middle cloaked figure who stepped ahead of the other two had a dark red cloak, and seemed to speak for the other two. "We will help settle this matter, now that you have stopped the possible war."

"The BaBa Ya Ga sisters" Sunny spoke just a notch above a hushed breath, his expression turned neutral as he examined them more closely.

"We had to wait until we knew there would be no fighting" one of the cloaked sisters who stood behind their leader, who wore a dark blue cloak, spoke up.

"We don't care for fighting" the one on the opposite side of the red cloaked one chimmed in now.

"We are all glad you were able to stop the fighting, Golden Prince" the red cloaked leader stated. "Our mother, Baba Yaga cast the spell long ago and gave King Aspen's father the Timberwolves to keep intruders out of the forest. She taught us many spells, including one to help us with this situation."

"Bring us all the scrapps of wood, sticks and leaves that you can muster" the sister in the blue cloak stated.

The deer guards took their armor off and ran off into the woods to gather loose sticks, Rosewood ordered her puppets to collect fallen trees and logs from the forest and to bring them back as well, and Sunny focused his magic to levitate all the fallen leaves he had raked the day before. Once all the supplies were gathered, the BaBa Ya Ga sisters formed a triangle with their extended hooves, and began chanting. The piles of sticks, leaves and wood began to levitate and glow a dark green color. At the same time, the 20 pony puppets who had the Timberwolves spirits within them also began to levitate. Every creature, pony, puppet, deer or otherwise watched in amazement as a dark green aura slithered out of the possessed puppets and wafting in the air, making their way to the piles of forest debris.

A moment after the sisters stopped chanting, the sticks, leaves and wood began to shake. Subtly at first, but then it grew more violent until they sprang up and swirled into a tornado! Pieces came togeather forming bodies, legs, heads, and finnaly glowing eyes that shinned even in the day's bright light! 20 Timberwolves stood around the sisters, all growling and snarling, their fowl breath filled the air with the smell of rotting vegetation. The wolves looked around themselves for a moment, then looked to King Aspen for guidance.

"Return home" the deer king ordered. "And leave the ponies of the near by town and farm alone. Keep only to the forest."

The Timberwolves closed their mouths and bowed in respect for the King of the forest, then retreated back into the Everfree, their howls filling the air.

"And YOU, child" the sister in the green cloak had suddenly appeared next to Rosewood, handing her a rolled up scroll. "Take this."

Rosewood took the scroll, and looked from it to the green cloaked sister. "What is it?"

"Your puppets are alive, but their spirits are weak" the blue cloaked sister answered as the green cloaked sister stepped back and rejoined the other two.

"Your star heart gave them life, but they need spirit of their own. Take them, lead them, to the place on the map" the red cloaked sister began to explain. "The aurora borealis will touch down there and fill them with its spirit. They will live and dream and enjoy life like any creature else."

"You may find something else there as well" the blue cloaked one added with a small giggle.

"But you must hurry" the Red cloaked one spoke up again. "If you leave within the hour, you'll make it in a few days. But you must hurry."

Rosewood looked from the sisters, to the scroll, then back at them. "Why are you helping me?"

"Becouse" the green cloaked one answered this time. "You and your puppets deserve the chance to live. Make sure you govern them well, queen puppet."

"And if you need any help, ask your uncle" the red cloaked one chuckled. "He's a good leader, despite his reluctance."

"Keep that in mind" the blue cloaked one appeared to be addressing Sunny now. "You may have to use those skills yourself very, very soon."

"Wait, what do you-?" Sunny started to ask, but a gust of wind interrupted him.

A heavy gale carried dirt and dust in it, causing every creature to wince and close their eyes. When the wind died down, the three sisters were gone.

Stairing at his reflection in the mirror, Sunny still couldn't believe the tall stallion with a flaming mane stairing back at him was his own reflection. 'Was this the gift mom told me about? Now I can become an umbrum or a really tall unicorn?'

Checking out his body more in the mirror, flexing and turning around, Sunny didn't notice Applejack standing at his doorway, a wide smile on her muzzle as she whistled at him. Hearing the whistle, Sunny turned and saw his marefriend admiring him checking out his new form, and his cheeks quickly turned a bright red. Sunny chuckled a little to ease his embarrassment and asked Applejack "how long have you been there?"

"Not long enough" Applejack smiled and winked at Sunny. "Like th' new look?"

Clearing his throat, Sunny turned back to his mirror as Applejack hopped up and sprawled across his bed. "To be honest, I kinda do."

"Ya changed like that back on the train commin' back from the Crystal Empire" Applejack stated. "Guess ya can go back and forth."

"I guess i can change back and forth. I'll have to practice so I can do it more at will. Which form do you like better?" Sunny seeking Applejack's approval.

"Ah don't much mind any of yer forms" Applejack asked, Sunny picked up that she didn't say 'both' meaning she included his umbrum form. He didnt care for that side of him, but it was a part of him. Seeing Sunny's understanding and senceing some inner turmoil, Applejack hopped off the bed, walked over to her coltfriend, put her hooves on either side of his head, and pulled him into a kiss. The kiss lasted for a long, peaceful minute, then Applejack released Sunny, looked into his beautiful green eyes with her own beautiful green eyes and told him "your Sunny no matter what you look like. And yer mah Sunny."

Hearing this, Sunny relaxed a bit and pulled Applejack in a tight hug. Applejack grinned, eyes closed as she was lost in Sunny's warm embrace. Moments later, Applejack's eyes cracked open as she was about to offer Sunny to come down and help her make dinner, when she noticed a large wooden box in the corner. Chains that used to be wrapped around it now lay on the cound at its base. "Hey Sugercube, what's that?"

Sunny was able to turn and look over his shoulder without breaking the hug, to see what Applejack was pointing at. Sunny's expression became forlorn as he reluctantly separated from Applejack and walked over to the box. Slowly, he pulled the wooden lid of the box away, revealing its contents to Applejack. The orange farm pony almost turned white when she saw it.

"Rosewood found a note underneath the chains saying it was for me. She gave it to me without opening it before she and the other puppets started their journey to the north …" Sunny's tone carried from a heavy heart. Looking at the contents of the box once more, Sunny wished he knew why Whittier left him with such an odd and painfully nostalgic gift. "What were you thinking, old friend…"

Author's Note:

One Easter egg someone could point out from the puppets is its direct relation to Sasori's puppets from Naruto, and the dragon similar to Diedara's clay dragon.

I'm not a Naruto fan at all, lol

But the idea of a slumbering puppet army i actually got the idea from several different places. Its not that original of an idea, but I wanted to add it to the mlp universe, atleast in my fic.

There is a part of me that kindof thinks Rosewood deserves her own origin fim fic, and maybe ill do thst some day. But I have alot of projects to work on, including Sunny's own fic.

Thank you all for reading!