Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Iron Knight

Taking a break from a meeting with the town's statue redesign committee, Sunny stepped outside town hall to get some fresh air and saw a rather frantic Starlight Glimmer running up to him.

"Howdy there, Starlight. Ah think we'll be able ta head home soon. Th' commity have several new designs ta vote on, but they seem to be gettin' along just fine now." Sunny spoke with great relief, readjusting his stetson hat.

"The committee isn't the problem" Starlight told Sunny, slightly out of breath. "I need you to come with me, right now! Hot Iron's leaving town! He doesn't think anypony appreciates him!"

The relaxed and cheerful expression Sunny had melted away into one of dissonance. For a moment, Sunny was unsure of how to feel. "Well… why is that a bad thing?"

Starlight was shocked to hear Sunny say such a thing. "How can you say that!? This is his home! And he doesn't feel like anypony wants him here!"

"The guy spent his whole life filling everypony here with fear of ME! Like 'I' was some monster!" Sunny's anger began to grow.

"You aren't a monster, but neither is HE!" Starlight took a second to calm herself, seeing that anger would only make Sunny emotionally back away further. "He's been taught his whole life that he needed to fight for what he loves. And he loves this town. Ponies think he's paranoid or pushy, and maybe he is, a little. But that's only becouse he doesn't want anything bad to happen to them… he's alot like you, if you think about it."

"How do you figure that?" Sunny's anger started to flare up again.

Starlight huffed, pushing out her anger in a focused sigh through her nostrils as she held a glare at Sunny. She could stand there and connect the dots between Hot Iron and Sunny all day, and Sunny would still try and deny every connection. Instead she pointed in the direction that Hot Iron ran off. "Go. Talk to him. What have you got to lose? He's one pony. Just… just talk to him. Please?"

Taking in a deep breath and exhaling it through his own nostrils to control his own anger, Sunny gave way and was willing to do THIS, if for nothing else, then to possibly get this mission over with and get back home, where HE belonged.

It didn't take Hot Iron long to pack a suit case and leave the small home he was moved into when he lost his title of Mayor. Even when he was Mayor, Hot Iron didn't bother with fancy things like silver silverwear, or fancy portraits of himself unlike the past mayors of the town. The big house he lived in when he took office came furnished with fancy tables, chairs couches and what not, but to be honest, Hot Iron would rather have the simple things. He didn't even bother the maids and butlers who were employed by the town for the mayor. He just had them go about their usual cleaning business of the large mayor's house, while he tended to his own daily routine himself. But once Hot Iron was out of office, most of his own personal things fit into a small cart that he wheeled to the very edge of town, to a small, run down house.

Hot Iron had time to fix every problem with the small, rundown house, now that he was no longer mayor and responsible for the safety and well being of the townsfolk. He found he rather enjoyed fixing up the house's leaky roof, patching up the holes in the walls, and giving the place a fresh coat of paint. It wasn't the best looking house on the block, but it was HIS. And he was proud of the work he put into it. It had actually been fun and took his mind off his loss of power and position, as well as his current, less respectable job as town janitor. Taking one last look around his fixed up, humble house, Hot Iron shut the door behind him, ready to make his way to the train station. His cousin offered for him to stay with her for a little while in Manehatten. Hot Iron thought that was the kind of place a pony can start off fresh. So much going on, who would notice somepony new poping up? Who would ask quesgions? Any maybe he could get a better job there then 'janitor'.

"Where do you think you're going?" A familiar voice called out to Hot Iron, stopping his dead in his tracks, making every muscle in his body stiffen.

Turning around, Hot Iron scowled at the yellow unicorn across from him. "Oh. You. What do you want?"

"Honestly, I want to go home, where my family is waiting for me" Sunny admitted as he advanced to Hot Iron. "But first I have to deal with the friendship problem here. I'm pretty sure I solved it, but my friend thinks YOU are really the one with the problem."

Hot Iron snorted. "What would some stuck up prince know about a normal pony's problems?"

"Now listen here, buster!" Sunny moved to look Hot Iron right in the eye, his own eyes almost on fire with rage as he glared the other stallion down. "I may be a prince, but my life has been far from easy! Since I was a foal I have had to work hard to earn the respect of others, respect wasn't just given to me! I studdied hard so I can have the knowlage to settle problems! And with the exception of my father, my grandfather and on occasion, my own mother, I was all alone! Ponies didn't respect me until I proved my worth. I worked for everything I had 1000 years ago, and I work hard now to keep what I have!"

Hot Iron's hard expression remained unchanged as he glared back as Sunny, his chest raising and falling as he took deep breaths to keep what little cool he had. After a few moments, Hot Iron broke the silance. "Well, good for you. You faught and got to keep everything."

"I didn't keep everything" Sunny's tone was still hard but less angry then a moment ago. "I lost everything at one point. Both my parents, my home, even my memory. I was like a foal, wandering around with no purpose or anything to him, not even a name."

This caused Hot Iron to waver a bit. "Yeah? What did you do?"

"It's not what I did" Sunny began to relax a bit more, feeling like he was talking to a regular pony rather then a jerk. "Ponies gave me a chance. One pointed me in the direction. Of help, I followed it, and eventually I found a new home. One I wanted to protect with all my might. One with good, kind Ponies. Ponies who gave me a home. And after some hard work, troubling times, more then a few mistakes, and effort to making up for those mistakes, I got to where I am now. I have friends, a home, my mother back, along with a large, new family who seem to really like me."

Sunny's words dug deep into Hot Iron. The dark coated earth pony had to do a double take at the yellow unicorn he had been listening to. "Are you really the Black Knight from 1000 years ago? Who destroyed the town?"

"I told you before" Sunny started to tense up a bit, but his voice held more of an even tone then a defensive one. "It was complicated, and your ancestors didn't help."

This surprisingly made Hot Iron chuckle. "Guess I come by my thick headedness honestly."

With a small sigh, he flipped his suit case flat and sat on it, looking in the direction away from the town.

Moving towards him, Sunny stood and looked out in the same direction he was looking, trying to figure out what was going through Hot Iron's head.

"It was stupid…" Hot Iron thought outloud, catching Sunny off guard. "My whole life I worked and prepared for the dark day when YOU would return and possibly threaten our town again. If you never showed up, I would have had foals of my own and trained them like my father trained me, and his father trained him. It would have never ended."

"It looks like you get to make your own choices now" Sunny flatly, not making eye contact as they both still stared at the horizon. "So… what are you going to do? Who do you want to be?"

"Who did you become?" Hot Iron asked just as flatly, simply wanting an answer.

Thinking about it for a moment, Sunny tried to find the right words. "I became a farm pony, in a small town. I made friends with a bunch of ponies in that small town. Every now and again we solve friendship problems, take on monsters, travel through space and time, bit still try and make it home for dinner. Soon, I'm going to take a very special mare to be my wife, and probably have a few foals with her, starting a family all our own."

"Probably?" Hot Iron chuckled as he looked over at Sunny, cooking a half smile. That was the first time Sunny had ever seen the former mayor smile, it was odd, but also relaxing.

Thier peaceful moment was disturbed when they heard ponies screaming in the direction of town. Both of them simultaneously stood up and looked back at Iron Hill. They couldn't see exactly what was going on, but they did see a few teenaged dragons flying over the town.

"Are THEY with you!?" Hot Iron questioned Sunny with a sharp expression.

"No" Sunny answered flatly, trying to ignore Hot Iron's suspicion.

"Then we need to help the town's folk" Hot Iron began galloping in the direction of town.

This shocked Sunny a little, and he began to connect the dots of what Starlight was getting at. Sunny teleported in a flash of green light and reappeared infront of Hot Iron, almost causing the dark coated earth pony to run I to him.

"Get out of my way!" Hot Iron snapped, glaring at Sunny, his inner fire once again in a blaze.

"Why are you so eager to protect the town that shunned you? I saw how those ponies treated you, why stick your neck out for them?" Sunny needed to know the answer before he made a rather bold move.

"I don't care what they think of me!" Hot Iron snapped, annoyed at the yellow unicorn. "They're in trouble and need help! That's what's important!"

Hot Iron tried to move around Sunny, But Sunny got in his way again. "Are you going to just leap into a fight? Or are you going to try and talk things out?"

Hot Iron was gettin impatient. "Those are teenage dragons. They won't just 'talk things out'. You need to put your hoof down and use some force!"

Realizing Hot Iron had a point, Sunny restructured his quesgion. "If you COULD solve the problem without harming anycreature, would you?"

"I don't want anypony hurt" Hot Iron admitted, still very much annoyed. "I just want those dragons to go away. If I COULD shoo them away, I would."

Hot Iron tried this time to push past Sunny, but Sunny was stronger then the average unicron and kept Hot Iron back a bit. "I'll let you go if you answer me one last question; Name each Elements of Harmony…"

Back at Iron Hill, Mayor Carehoof was doing his best to herd the townsfolk away from town square where several teenage dragons appeared to be playing some sort of game where they pick up rocks or small pieces of wood, light it on fire, then throw them at one another. Almost like some sort of dragon version of a water balloon fight. Although this would be a common and mostly harmless activity in the dragon lands where almost everything is either fire proof or burned already, and where the dragon's scales protect their bodies from being harmed by the flamming debris. But Equestria, most of the things and creatures are not fire proof. Which is why half the town was scrambled, trying desperately to take cover while the town's fire brigade was also trying desperately to put the fires out. All the ponies and their troubles were being ignored by the flight of dragons who were focused only on their game.

Before one of the older male dragons could throw a chunk of burning rock, a deep voice yelled out from just over the horizon as a black figure stood like a monolith. "Stop this at once!"

The voice rang inside the teenage dragon's heads and caused them all to obay the black figures orders and stop their game. It was as if an order from the Dragon Lord herself spoke the words.

"W-w-what gives?" One of the older male dragons asked as he gathered the strength to speak up.

The figure trotted into view, his dark armor rattling as he ran. Everypony in town who had been hidding, watched as the pony they all knew as the Black Knight approached the town square where most of the teenaged dragons had gathered and were playing. Even the Mayor stopped evacuating ponies and watched, curious as to what would unfold

When the Black Knight, standing tall in all his glory, reached the center of town, spoke loudly and addressed all the dragons at once. "What is the meaning of this!? Who amung you dragons is your leader?!"

Several of the surounding dragons pushed a slightly plump, purple dragon with a snaggletooth, forward. He didn't know why, but that purple dragon seemed nervouse to answer, something that most dragons didn't really have a problem with, especially when talking to ponies, who were maybe half their hight at best. "Ugh, I am, sir. I'm the oldest."

The helmet of the Black Knight turned to face the purple dragon "Do you want to tell me WHY you're here? And WHY you thought it was a good idea to set this place on fire?! Do you have any idea to this town's history!?"

The purple dragon felt rattled. Never before had he felt so small, except that one time when he was scolded by Dragon Lord Torch for doing a cannon ball in a lava pit that splashed him in the face. Gulping down his nervousness, the purple dragon answered "Well, Ugh, you see, sir, just on the other side of the mountain is our family's nesting cave. We all take a family vacation there once a year. And we just decided to play a game of fire fight. And, well, we ended up here."

"Do you have any idea of the damage you've done!?" The Black Knight was fuming, his voice shooting off his helmet and ringing loud like a brass bell.

All of the teenage dragons looked around, suddenly becoming aware of the damage they had been causing. Several buildings were on fire, a dozen small trees planted around the town square had been snapped and lay broken, and the new town's statue had bits of itself broken off. Without thinking, the teenage dragons were breaking it apart to use as ammo on one another. Not much was left of the statue that was recognizable. Which was a shame, becouse Sunny really wanted to know what the committee had decided on.

"Oh, ugh, oops" was all the purple dragon could say as he sheepishly looked back at the Black Knight.

Fear started to creep into the hearts of every dragon there when the Black Knight took a hard step towards their eldest relative. "Now listen, and listen good! You all are going to help put out the fires, fix the damage you all have done, appologize for the way you've acted, and then vow to never, EVER return to this town without MY permission. Do I make myself clear!?"

The dragons all looked nervously around at one another, hoping one of them would say something. But none of them did.

"Am I Clear!?" The Black Knight roared, causing all the dragons to shake and cower in their spots, unable to move until they were dismissed.

Something deep down inside of them rattled and forced them to obay the commands of the Black Knight. Instructions from their ancestors who were instructed by their respected Dragon Lord. All at once the teenaged dragons nodded their heads in response and replied with "yes, sir!"

With more urgency then they ever thought they could muster, the teenage dragons all began rushing around the town, putting out the fires, and doing their best to fix what they had damaged.

Feeling that the town was once again safe, the townsfolk came out of hidding and gathered around the town square where the Black Knight supervised the teenaged dragons clean up. He didn't even pay much attention to the townsfolk until Mayor Carehoof approached him and took his armor clad hoof in his own, shaking it with great enthusiasm.

"Brave Knight, we of Iron Hill owe you a great dept of gratitude!" This shocked the Balck Knight, but he remained silent as the Mayor put a hoof around his armor clad body and faced the town. "Three cheers for Prince Sunny! The Black Knight! Hip-Hip!-"

"Actually, I'm over here" a familiar voice belonging to a well known yellow unicorn called out from the crowd, causing everypony to turn and face him. Ponies who had been around him stepped away to clear the path. Standing in the crowd was none other then Sunny Knight, tipping his stetson hat at the folks as they cleared a path for him.

The mayor was confused as Sunny happily trotted up to him and the Black Knight standing beside him. "Wait… then who?…"

Twisting and turning the helmet on his head, the Black Knight popped the helmet off and reveiled his face to everypony. Underneath the helmet was nopony other then Hot Iron.

"Wait, I don't understand, what is going on!?" Mayor Carehoof spoke the words the entire town was thinking.

Putting on a wide smile, and puffing out his chest, Sunny pulled a green crystal sword, he had made a bit ago, from his side and presented it infront of him. Understanding what he needed to do next, Hot Iron flashed a smile that quickly faded so he could dawn a more humble and honored expression, kneeled and bowed his head to Sunny.

"I, Sunny Knight, Prince of Equestria, here by pass on the title, armor, and responsibility of the Black Knight, to you, Hot Iron of Iron Hill, along with the powers of the Black Knight, so long as you are worthy of it." Sunny didn't think he needed to use the royal Canterlot voice, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. "Do you, Hot Iron, swear to uphold the code of the knight, to protect the weak, to choose diplomacy before the sword, to always harbor the Elements of Harmony in your heart, and to work to building a better future for all species, not just ponies?"

"I swear" Hot Iron answered as loudly as he could with his muzzle still facing downwards, eyes still closed.

"Then, I dub thee, Sir Hot Iron, the 2nd Black Knight of Equestria" Sunny took his green crystal sword and tapped Hot Iron's shoulders, knighting the earth pony in the traditional fashion that hasn't been done in almost 1000 years. "Raise, Knight."

Hot Iron arose and was greeted by applause and cheers from everypony and even a few dragons around him. He was taken back by the whole thing. Never had he ever felt as appreciated as he did at that moment, not even when he was Mayor. This was the moment where he could hold his head up high, feeling he had found his true calling. The moment where the entire town looked at him as a hero, one who would serve Equestria, protect them, and bring honor to their little town by the mountain.

"Hot Iron, ugh, Sir Hot Iron" Mayor Carehoof approached Hot Iron nervously, followed by the tour guide, the chef, and the sweets shop owner. "I… I'm sorry for the way some of us treated you. Can you ever forgive us?"

Hot Iron paused and thought about something for a moment, which made several ponies nervous. But when a smile cracked on Hot Iron's Muzzle, they slightly relaxed. "Don't sweat it, Mayor. I was… kind of a jerk."

"How about a protein shake, for old time's sake?" The sweet shop owner spoke up.

"Sounds good to me" Hot Iron smiled warmly at her.

"Good! If you drink them, I can rename them as Knight Shakes and sell them like crazy!" She and Hot Iron laughed a little at that.

Hot Iron then turned and faced Sunny with a mixed expression on his muzzle. Sunny shared the same expression."Don't think this means you can boss me around all the time, just 'couse you knighted me or anything."

"Ah don't like ta do that" Sunny admitted, adjusting his hat a little. "Just make sure ya stay worthy of that armor, or ah'll have ta take it back."

"I was thinking about that" Hot Iron admitted. "I think we should start a tradition of passing on the armor when the time is right. I mean, I won't be young and fit forever. Somepony else might have ta take up the armor."

"Maybe ya can start some sort of academy and train ponies to become knights, or something. Ya got all that fighting knowlage and what not." Sunny suggested. "Ya can pass on th' armor and title to whoever earned it. Th' armor won't accept just anypony. Only a pony who is worthy can wear th' armor. But ah'm sure the princesses would help ya fund such ah school."

"You'd put in a good word for me?" Hot Iron asked, raising a suspicious brow at Sunny.

Sunny raised both brows at Hot Iron. "Don't think this makes us friends or nothin'."

"Course not" Hot Iron replied instantly.

"Good" Sunny shot back.

"Good" Hot Iron quickly replied to Sunny's reply.

The two paused, making the entire town watching nervous again. Then the two extended hooves and met with a hoof bump. As they did, the town erupted I to cheers again.

"Three cheers for Hot Iron and Sunny Knight!" Mayor Carehoof addressed the crowd and lead them into more cheering as Sunny and Hot Iron were lifted into the air by some of the surrounding townsfolk. "Hip-Hip!"

"Horray!" The town's folk called out.

Sunny didn't pay much attention to the other Hip-Hips or Harrays. He was too focused on his cutie mark flashing. Indicating the friendship mission was a success, their little adventure was over, and now he and Starlight can return home.

"Now you believe me that the friendship mission was about putting things right with the town and Hot Iron?" Starlight Glimmer asked as she and Sunny were on the tain, heading back to Ponyville.

Sunny just rolled his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, yeah, you were right."

"Actually, I think I was wrong" Starlight admitted, which caused Sunny to jerk his head and look over at her. She flashed him an even smugger look as she elaborated. "I think the REAL mission was about YOU and Hot Iron."

That caused Sunny to chuckle a little, not really disagreeing with her but not agreeing with her, either. Becouse if he did, that would be solid proof that HE and Hot Iron were friends. "Whatever ya say, Starlight. Point is, mission is over, ponies are happy, and we're on our way back home."

"I got to know, though" Starlight caught Sunny's attention again. "Why did you give up the Black Knight armor?"

Tilting his hat back, Sunny looked over at Starlight with a half smile. "I felt it was time. When I got the armor from Garganda, he told me that only a pony worthy of the armor could wear it. It would reject anypony unworthy. And when the time came, and I found somepony else worthy, I would feel it was time to pass it on. I honestly didn't think that time would ever come. I actually was hoping a little, that one day I would pass it onto on of my kids. But Hot Iron, and don't you ever tell him I sad this, was worthy, and I could feel it was calling to him."

Starlight was shocked and amazed. She didn't know much about the Black Knight or the armor beyond what Twilight told her. She doubted Sunny told her THIS part about the armor. Starlight would have to fill her mentor in about it later.

Something still was troubling Starlight, Sunny could feel it, and asked "What else is on your mind, Starlight?"

The pink unicorn brushed her mane out of her muzzle, and sheepishly looked at Sunny with a slightly shamed look. "Sunny… I still feel bad about what happened. And I was hoping to make it up to you on this mission. But YOU ended up solving the problem by yourself. I just, kinda wanna make things right."

Shooting Starlight a relaxed smile, Sunny spoke softly in a voice that reminded Starlight alot of his mother. "Starlight, if it wasn't for you, I might still be there trying to solve a friendship problem I was avoiding. It takes courage to speak up to anypony, it takes real courage to speak up against a friend and get them to do what is best for them. We're good, Starlight."

"Friends?" She nervously asked.

"Friends" Sunny offered her a hug, which Starlight took, small tears at the corners of her eyes.

After a moment of hugging, Starlight pulled back and wiped the ears from her eyes, hopping nopony had seen her. Wanting to lighten the mood a little, Starlight told Sunny "Oh, did you hear, Hot Iron was thinking of changing his name to 'Iron Knight'. You know, something that suits his new job title."

"'Iron Knight'?" Sunny repeated the name with a grimmice. "No offense, but that's just a ridiculous name."

The two laughed as they played with the names of ponies they knew, adding 'Knight' to their name in one way or another. 'Big Knight' for Big Mac, 'Pinkie Knight' for Pinkie Pie, and so on. It was a fun way to pass the time on the ride home.

Author's Note:

I know what you loyal readers are thinking 'oh no! Sunny's no longer the Black Knight! Something he's been since, like, chapter 1! Why would you write this!?'

To be honest, I toyed around with the idea ever since I saw the trailer for season 9 where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna declared they would step down as princesses. It's unsettling, but there comes a time to pass the touch for everyone. A changing of the guard, you might say.

Sunny is still Sunny. And he still has several suits of armor to choose from, so he won't ever have to go into battle without the proper attire. And changing an armored color is easy. The armor just won't be magical or command dragons.

I also felt that Sunny, starting a new life with Applejack, getting married and starting a family, would be harder to do if he was a Guardian of Harmony, a prince of Equestria, a farmer, AND the Black Knight.

I'm really proud of how these last two chapters turned out. It really showed character for both Sunny and Starlight, something I want to try and do more of. Like, I feel that THIS could have been an episode in the show, or atleast a two part comic arch.