Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Home of Shadows

It was dark where Sunny fell. His eyes fluttered open a moment ago to see a world completly devoid of any and all light. As he got up from a cold, rocky ground, he tried very hard to let his eyes adjust to the pitch blackness. No pony could naturally see in the darkness that surrounded him. Luckily for Sunny, though, he had some of his father's umbrum blood in him, and after a short while of looking around, the world reveiled to him shapes and forms.

There were wobbly buildings off in the distance that appeared to be made of clay, molded into houses stack ontop of another while they were still very wet. Other then that, there appeared to be stalagmite growing from the ground scattered in small groups here and there while stalactites hung down from a very, very tall ceiling. The area was wide and pretty bare other then the structures Sunny just took note of. Shaking his head clear, Sunny looked up at the ceiling and saw the opening that he fell through, his heart sinking into his gut when he did.

Above, there seemed to be black forms similar to warped, long limbed ponies with warping bodies, desperately to squeeze through the same opening. The creatures snapped at eachother with their long mouths, their pulled back lips and reveiled teeth made the feral creatures appear that much more terrifying. Sunny didn't know if they knew he was there, but could guess they either didn't yet or didn't care. But Sunny needed to find another way out. No way he could get past them, not in his state. He hadn't felt this exhausted since Apple Bloom gave him the GoGoGo berries. His limbs were sore, his head was fuzzy, it was taking all of his strength to keep himself standing, and the air was freezing, making it hurt to breath.

After taking several deep, silent breaths, Sunny quietly ventured out to explore the cave and hopefully find a way out. He made sure to pick his hooves up with every step in an attempt to keep as quiet as possible, less he draw attention to the creatures he now recognized as the umbrum.

'Was I that terrifying when I transformed?' Sunny thought to himself as he tore his eyes away from the phantom creatures and focused on the world around him. When Sunny had blacked out and went into his umbrum form, he felt like he had just fallen asleep in a row boat. He could tell his body had been moving but he had no control over it. The only things that ever pulled him out of it were Applejack or his better senses. Like he could feel something was wrong and that jolted him awake.

Did those umbrum feel the same way? They looked starved and sickly. Had so many years without food driven them to this? The thought made Sunny remember he had been like that for a short time, when he landed in the alternate time line where nopony or creature had survived and the world was dried up and in ruins. He could remember his weightless form gliding across the ground, his mind going blank. He had only dealt with that for a short time. Possibly, these poor creatures were what he would have become if HE had spent 1000 years in that empty, dried up world.

Sunny paused when he felt his hoof touch something wet. He paused and looked at the ground to see what it was he had stepped in. It was a pale blue puddle of what looked like ink. Sunny was about to just walk away from it when the puddle seemed to speak to him.

"Ssssuuunnnnyyyy…." a frail voice wheeze. It's odd, but Sunny swore he heard that voice before. "Sssuuunnnnnnyyy…"

Then the dots connected and Sunny fell to the ground, wanting to pull the puddle into a hug. But not a hug of relief or over joy like Pinkie Pie often gave almost everypony she came across. This hug would be one trying to comfort the puddle. Tears falling from his eyes as Sunny looked at the inky like substance and pushed the words from his mouth "P-Pappy? Pappy i-i-is that you?!"

"Yeesss…" the voice was weak, and held very little emotion in it. Almost as if Pappy was struggling to stay awake. "Sunny… Sunny… you must… must save them…"

Taking a deep breath and whipping away the tears, Sunny tried hard to gather himself and talk with Pappy while Pappy could still talk. Sunny could feel his weakened grandfather fading. "How, Pappy? How do I save them!?"

Pappy took a moment to answer, struggling to speak his next words, but knew what he had to say. "By. Being. Who. You. Are…"

The puddle spread further across the rocky ground as if melting further. Sunny could still feel life inside Pappy, but knew he wouldn't get anything more out of him. Pushing the pain of seeing his loving grandfather in this state out of his mind, Sunny got to his hooves. He needed to find a way out of there, and save everypony from that vile grandmother of his, as well as the umbrum she was releasing. Taking a few hard breaths, Sunny got to his feet, the hardest first step, then paused one last time to look down at Pappy before attempting to walk away.

"What issss thisssss?" Sunny had turned and walked almost into a form of living shadow and smoke. The umbrum's eyes glowed yellow in dark sockets as it flashed a smile at Sunny the way Big Mac often smiled at a large Hay Burger.

"Lookssss like a meal" a second Umbrum appeared to join the first. This one's body appeared to be a more greyish green smoke where the first was a blueish smoke. It's eyes were a glowing green color in its dark sockets.

"We sssshould sssshare" a third one joined in, this one a crimson colored smoke with glowing blue eyes.

All three circled Sunny, scencing fear in him. Delicious fear. Thick from being filled with love for others who he might lose. Ripe with the dread that he won't be strong enough to save them. With a dash of dispare for what may lay ahead of him.

The three umbrum opened their mouths and began to inhail, draining the fear from him. Sunny knew what this felt like. It left one cold, wanting to curl up into a ball, like you were all alone in the darkest place where nopony could ever fund you no matter how much you wanted them to. Sunny tried to fight it, but alot of his fight had already been pulled out of him before he was tossed into the umbrum prison. Seeing Pappy in the state he was in didn't help lift his spirits either. Sunny felt his hooves growing cold and numb as the three pairs of glowing eyes circled him, their inhaling breaths being the only sound he could hear.

'Is this really it?' Sunny asked himself, all positive feelings in his heart began to fade. He saw in his mind all the friends and allies he ever made, how they had joined him in his final battle to save Equestria from his wicked grandmother and her army of darkness. Was it worth it? Could they defeat his grandmother and stop her without him? Sunny felt like they would have to. 'After everything… this is how it ends?…This is the end to my tale… was my tale even worth telling…'

It's not like he was the main character in a story. If anypony was, it would probably be Twilight Sparkle. SHE seemed like the main character type, not him. He was happy just being a farmer. a simple farm pony who only wanted the simplest things in life. A home to call his own, a family, and-

Sunny's personal thoughts were interrupted when a scream arose from the entrance to the umbrum prison. A scream he recognized immediatly.

His eyes shot up to the entrance, his depressing thoughts leaving him as his eyes locked onto a very familiar mare falling from the opening in the ceiling. Pushing past the Umbrum, Sunny ignored the chill that he got when his body touched their smoky bodies, and ran as fast as he could to where Applejack was falling. Once again, time slowed down, Sunny's heart beating a million miles per hour, his unblinking eyes locked onto Applejack. She had passed out and was falling like a rag doll. Just before she hit the ground, Sunny jumped and caught her in mid air. He couldn't use magic, and had to resort to a falling method he learned in his second year of guard boot camp to save his beloved.

After catching Applejack and pulling her into himself while he was still in the air, Sunny curled himself into a ball around her, so that his back received the full brunt of the fall. After Sunny successfully landed, his back aching, scratched and banged up from the hard rock he landed on, he looked down at his fiancé.

Poor Applejack was as cold as the air around then, eyes closed snd shivering. She was muttering something under her breath. Sunny tried to shake her awake, tried to reasure her that she was fine and that it was alright to open her eyes. But Applejack didn't come out of it, she continued to shake, shiver and mutter, her eyes clenching shut.

'She's having a nightmare' Sunny thought to himself, then pulled Applejack in tightly into himself. Leaning his mouth to her ear so she might be able to hear his words Sunny spoke softly "Don't worry, Applejack, I'm here. I'll always be there when you need me… I love you. So very, very much…"

All around him umbrum gathered, including the ones who fed on Applejack as she fell into their prison and the three who were feeling on Sunny moments ago. They initially gathered to feed on Sunny and Applejack, but stopped and watched the two ponies, curious about Sunny's actions. They could tell now that he was a little like them. The could sence something about him, that he could feed on her fear. They knew the mare in his hooves was a meal just sitting in his lap, yet he tried to sooth her rather then nourish himself. They were perplexed. Their confusion kept them watching and waiting.

Sunny ignored the umbrum as he continued to whisper sweet words into Applejack's ear, holding her tightly and stroking her mane with his hoof. It took him a little while, but his loving future wife began to climb out of her nightmare and fall into a sweet slumber. She smiled and relaxed in his hooves, nuzzling her muzzle into his chest, listening to the relaxed rhythm of his familiar heart beat.

A few more moments after Applejack's nightmare ended, the red colored umbrum with the blue glowing eyes from earlier approached Sunny and asked him "why didn't you feed? You could have taken sssstrength from her. You could have ussssed it to fight ussss off."

Looking away from Applejack to the red colored umbrum, Sunny spoke in a soft tone so as not to wake Applejack from her dream. "I could never do that to her…I love her."

"Love?" The blue one repeated the word to the green umbrum next to her, who seemed equally confused.

The word spread across a sea of smoky monsters, having never understood the word, only that ponies they fed on once had great fears tied to it.

"I'm sorry, I think we got off on the wrong hoof" Sunny continued to whisper as he extended a hoof to the red umbrum. "My name's Sunny, Sunny Knight. What's your name?"

The red umbrum recoiled at the extended hoof,, thinking Sunny was trying some sort of attack. When one didn't come, she looked down at his still extended hoof, confused. After a moment the umbrum looked at Sunny and stated "we do not have names. Only the Queen has a name."

This didn't suprise Sunny. His his Grandmother seemed like the kind that wouldn't bother with naming others. "But, how do you adress eachother?"

The red one turned to the blue and green umbrum standing behind her, looking for an answer. The blue one spoke up "we just look them in the eye when we talk to one another."

"Which isn't often" the green one added. "What is there to talk about?"

Sunny thought for a moment then a light flickered in his heart. A light, that although was a metaphorical one, caught the attention of every umbrum there, as if somepony actually had turned on a light. All the umbrum's heads were turned and focused on Sunny. "How would you like me to give you a name?"

The red umbrum looked confused for a moment then shrugged it off. An angered expression splattered across her muzzle as she hissed "you think I need a name!? All we need is food! You and that one are ripe for the picking!"

All the umbrum's expressions flashed and quickly turned violent and angery as their howling and hoof scrapping filled the air. The sound echoed off the walls and amplified. The sound was driving Sunny crazy, but he took a deep breath, looked the red one in her glowing blue eyes and told her in a stern voice "that's enough."

The red one stomped her hooves and looked Sunny back in the eye with just as hard of an expression as she could before hissing "who are you to command us!?"

"I'm an adult telling you that that's enough." Sunny spoke in a monotone voice.

A chuckling came from his lap, causing Sunny to break eye contact with the red umbrum and look back at Applejack, who had stirred awake from the commotion. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she looked up at Sunny with her bright green emeralds eyes.

"Ya sound like ah parent already" Applejack commented as she leaned in and gave him a big kiss on the lips.

As soon as their lips touched, the world around them was put on hold. Sunny felt a warm feeling fill him as Applejack's lips touched his, her hoof reaching up behind his head as if to lock them into place.

The light inside Sunny that the umbrum were confused and drawn to began to glow inside the other pony as well, becoming even brighter then before. The umbrum all fell silent at once and watched Sunny and Applejack embrace eachother. It was something they had never seen before. They couldn't quite grasp the feeling the two were radiating with. Was it love? No. The umbrum knew what love felt like. This had love in it, but there was more.

When their kiss finally ended, Applejack looked Sunny up and down. "Ya OK, partner?"

"Yeah, ah'm fine" which wasn't a lie. His back hurt from the fall, but he was over all OK now that SHE was. He knew they had to get out of there, bit something told him to wait a bit, to continue holding his mare in his hooves. "So, what were you dreaming about?"

Applejack blushed a little as she broke eye contact with Sunny, a small smile on her muzzle. "Ah had ah dream… we were back on th' farm. We had foals. Three of them."

"Really?" Sunny beamed, smiling at the notion. "Any of them as pretty as you?"

Applejack chuckled a little bit and booped Sunny on the tip of his muzzle, causing him to laugh a little. The umbrum around them had watched the two ponies interact, eyes all glowing in the darkness.

"What are you doing?" The red umbrum spoke up again, catching Sunny and Applejack's attention.

"What in the hey!" Applejack jumped when she realized they weren't alone, a pair of glowing eyes all that she could see.

Sunny quickly calmed her with a single hoof on her shoulder and a look that told her not to be afraid. He adressed Applejack first, looking her in the eye and calmly telling her "well, hon, these are, kinda my family. On my father's side."

He then turned to the red umbrum, then shifted his gaze to adress the rest of the umbrum around him. "And this is Applejack. My fiancé."

Applejack cleared her throat and nervously waved st the Umbrum suroudning them. "H-howdy ya'll."

The umbrum broke eye contact with Sunny and Applejack to whisper amongst themselves for a long moment.

"What is a 'fiancé'" the green umbrum in the back called our, looking back at Sunny and Applejack.

"Its somepony you are going to marry" Sunny simply stated.

"Why get married?" The red one asked. "What are you afraid of if you don't get married?"

"I'm not 'afraid' of anything if I don't get married" Sunny explained. "We just want to both show that we're all we need. We want to start a life togeather. Eventually, have foals togeather. Grow old togeather."

"But… why?" The red umbrum asked, still confused.

"Becouse it makes us happy" Sunny didn't know how better to explain it.

"If ah was honest, ah was afraid" Applejack admitted, catching the red umbrum and Sunny's attention. "Ya see, ah always thought ah wouldn't find ah stallion who was up ta mah standards. All mah friends attracted stallions, 'cept me. An' when ah did get th' attention of ah colt, he wasn't up for th'long haul.

"Then this stallion fell inta mah life" Applejack ran her hoof across Sunny's cheek. "And ah knew ah met th' one. Ah thought ah would always be alone, grow old alone, never have foals of mah own. But when ah'm with him, ah know all mah dreams are gunna come true. Ah wasn't afraid anymore."

"Awe, sugar cube…" Sunny learned down and kissed Applejack on her forhead. She returned it with one on his cheek.

"He… relieved you of your fear?" The blue one spoke up, seeming very confused.

"Ah guess he did" Applejack smiled and stoked Sunny's cheek again. "Ah love him."

The umbrum looked upon Applejack again, curious at what it was they were sencing. They could sence fear behind anything, even behind courage that seemed to push them away. But this feeling wasn't courage in the face of fear. It was something else.

"But, how do you eat?" A grey umbrum stuck its muzzle out of the darkness, its expression more curious then angry, though, he still looked frightening.

"Can I ask you guys something" Sunny spoke loud enough for all the umbrum to hear, all their eyes were now on him. Applejack got up and helped Sunny to his hooves. Raising his head and speaking in a clear voice, Sunny asked the Umbrum "what do you all plan to do when you get our of here?"

"FEED!" All the umbrum answered at once, followed by more of their howls and hoof stomps.

"Alright, alright" Sunny tried to quiet them down. Slowly, the umbrum did quiet down. "But what about after that? After you all have filled your bellies with fear? What do you all plan to do?"

The half of the umbrum looked confused, having never honestly thought about that.

The angry grey one from earlier spoke up in a confident tone "we hunt for more to feed on, then feed more!"

To which half the umbrum cheered, but oddly enough, the other half, including the three who had fed on Sunny a little bit ago, remained silent and pondered the quesgion, giving it more thought.

"Is they all you want out of life? To eat and eat till you can't eat any more? If that's even possible?" Sunny asked the whole group, but his eyes passed over the large angry grey one more often then the others.

The large, angry grey umbrum was about to blindly answer but hesitated. He rolled words aound in his mouth before asking "what else is there?"

"We're umbrum" a darker grey umbrum stuck her head out of the darkness, her glowing greenish yellow eyes falling on Sunny. "Its… what we do?"

"Isn't it?" The blue umbrum asked, feeling unsure.

"You all know Pappy?" Sunny asked the umbrum, who appeared confused by the quesgion, never having known that Pappy had a name. Sunny reluctantly pointd to the blue, inky puddle that was once Pappy. The umbrum knew immediatly who Sunny was talking about, some even felt shame for a reason that was unknown to them.

Applejack ghasped after her narrowed eyes fell upon the inky blue puddle. She turned to Sunny, and without answering beyond a mournful nod, Applejack took her hat off and put it over her heart, fighting back tears with deep breaths.

"Pappy…" Sunny continued, fighting back his own tears. "Was an umbrum, just like YOU all."

"He was a primal umbrum" the blue umbrum stated. "One of the eldest and strongest."

"And HE managed to find a way to live in peace with ponies for over 1000 years!" Sunny stated, his voice hardened. "If the umbrum that earned the title 'the Howling Mountain' could learn to live in peace with ponies without feeding on them, you all can too. So don't say that 'Feeding' is all you do!"

The umbrum whispered amongst themselves for a moment, bouncing ideas off one another, questioning what they heard, wondering if it really was possible.

"Oh yeah? How do you expect us to do that, exactly?" The red umbrum asked Sunny, narrowing her eyes on him.

Sunny took a deep breath, eyes locked with the red umbrum before offering his hoof to her once again. This time the red umbrum didn't flinch at the motion. "I don't know, but I'll help you to figure it out. After all, yer all family."

"Family?…" The green one turned to the blue umbrum, repeating the word to her in a whisper, again, seeking an answer.

"An' if yer his family, guess that makes us family too" Applejack put her stetson back atop her head. "An' ah'll help ya'll figure this out too. Me an' mah friends will do all we can ta help ya'll out. So long as ya ain't suckin' th' life outta folks."

The umbrum began Chattering louder amongst themselves, unsure if they could live without feeding on fear. But if a primal Umbrum, one they were all born from, could do it, shouldn't they be able to do it too?

"Do you really believe there's a way? For us to life without feeding on fear?" A lighter blue and grey umbrum pushed their way out of the shadows, shooting Sunny a questioning look.

"I know there's a way. And you won't be alone." Sunny said without hesitation, the light inside of him began to flair up again, catching the Umbrum's attention, pulling them away from their back and forth Chattering.

"How?" The red umbrum closest to Sunny asked as her hot glowing nose eyes flared. "How do you know? You never lived your entire life off fear."

"If Pappy could do it, if my father could do it, so can all of you" Sunny stated firmly before turning back to adress the rest of the umbrum. "But it's up to all of you to take that chance! Do you want to spend the rest of your lives living like starved dogs, fighting for every meal, or do you want to go out there, see the world and find your place in it?"

The umbrum said nothing this time oddly, all were silent as they looked from Sunny to breaking eye contact and looking off in different directions.

"But…" The green umbrum broke the silance. "What would we do? You know, with our lives?"

"Ya'll could go out there and make some friends" Applejack spoke up. "Ah've seen alot of rough 'round the edge ponies grow mighty happy from making a friend er two."

"Who would want to be friends with ussss?" The Dark grey umbrum from before hissed, causing a ripple of whispers again.

"I would" Sunny spoke up immediatly. "I'd like to get to know you all better. We're family after all."

"Ah'd give ya a shot too" Applejack stepped forward with her fiancé. "Ya'll be Apple kin soon enough. Maybe we could get togeather at th' farm and have ah big old barbecue."

"We could play games, introduce ya'll to ponies from town" Sunny smiled as he continued off Applejack's idea. "And ya'll can try some of Granny's famous apple pie."

"Pie?" The green umbrum repeated the last word, her head riasing up at the word.

"I… think I know what Pie is…" The red umbrum's expression softened a little as she thought. "Its a… baked, sweet food, right?"

"Eh'yep" Applejack used her brother's famous quote. "And we won't just have Apple pie, neither. Apple fritters, Apple tarts, candied apples, Apple sauce, Apple crumble cake-"

"Anything other then apples?" The angry grey umbrum asked.

"Well, yeah, ah can grill up some hay burgers and hay dogs, we can have tossed salads, all kinds of fruites" Sunny added to Applejack's list of foods.

"What's a hay burger?" The blue umbrum asked curiously.

"Wanna go find out?" Sunny smiled at her before turning to adresss the umbrum again. "I want you all to live wonderful lives. Lives where you don't have to be monsters who obsess over torturing creatures and feeding on their fear. It's possible. But YOU have to make that choice for yourselves. Do you want to be monsters? Or do you want to be YOU?"

The umbrum spoke in skattered conversations, still a little unsure of what to do. It wasn't until the red umbrum took a step towards Sunny, looked him right in the eye and stuck out her hoof at him, mimicking his previous actions. Every umbrum quieted down and watched.

"I want…" The red umbrum spoke clearly without the slightest bit of hissing in her tone. "I want… to… I want to learn to cook."

This suprised every creature there, pony and umbrum.

Sunny smiled took her smoky shifting hoof and shook it lightly, suprised at how solid and warm it felt. "Ah'd be glad ta help ya learn."

"And…" The green one behind the red one spoke up this time. "I want to make friends! And have, ugh, what ever those things called where groups of friends get togeather?"

"Parties?" Applejack asked, shooting the green one a smile.

"Yeah! Parties!" The green one was practically dancing in place. "Have parties! Eat pie! Dance! And play games! Lots and lots of games!"

"I guess I better keep an eye on her" the blue one reluctantly said with a streached smile on her muzzle.

"Can I…" The angery grey umbrum started to speak. "Go to art museums? Critique and judge paintings and sculptures?"

This suprised Sunny a bit, but he shook off his suprise and smiled. "Of course. But you all can't feed off other's fears, ok?"

The umbrum hesitated again, but the red umbrum stepped in and stated "if I can survive off food I make, I'll be fine. Besides, I bet I could make food that tasts waaay better then fear, right?"

"Having actually fed off fear" Sunny was reluctant to admit, but needed to confirm with rest of the umbrum. "I can tell you there are faaaar better things to taste then fear. Like Apple Fritters."

This made Applejack chuckle. "You and your apple fritters."

Summer nuzzle Applejack's cheek a little as he told her "you make the best."

"I'm ah little curious, but how do ya'll know about art and cooking if ya'll have been trapped down here?" Applejack asked the red umbrum who was closest to her and Sunny.

The blue one stepped forward to answer the quesgion, though. "Every year, the barrier that kept us here and keeps the storm at bey weakens right before the Crystal carnival. In that time, we sucked little bits of fear from the ponies above. Through their fears we learned about the world above."

"Well, what do you all say? Do you all want to live like monsters, jumping from one meal to the next? Or do you want to go out there and live better lives and be your own umbrum?" Sunny adressed the group of umbrum again with the quesgion.

"I wanna be my own umbrum!" The energetic green umbrum cheered, bouncing in place.

"Me too" the red umbrum casually nodded.

"I want to be a monster of my own choosing" the large grey umrbum stated. When he felt every creature's eyes on him, he realized how that sounded and elaborated. "An art critic can be a monster of their own."

Sunny smiled as he looked at the smoky shapes around him, their eyes no longer burning with the white hot intensity of hunger, but gleaming with possibility and hope. Hope and possibility began to pour into the umbrums minds as they began to day dream about what they could do with life. What happened next, no pony or creature was expecting, but a wide smile grew across Sunny's muzzle as balls of dimmed light began to enclose around the umbrum….

Author's Note:

I'm going to be brutal honest here, I planned out some events to happen, such as Sunny winning over the Umbrum and trying to show them the light and possibility of a better life, but I never imagined characters to pop out of it who could have stories of their own.

The trio of colorful umbrum, the aggressive grey one and others just kinda... happened.

I like how it happens. Organically.