Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Cutie Mark Assistance

The day had begun to stretch on longer then expected. Sunny had trained long and hard with Twilight, working to develop his magical abilities. Knowing that the yellow unicorn's magic came out the easiest when somepony he cared about was involved and would need immediate action, Twilight involved the aid of the three ponies who she knew could help him out the best, with her supervision of course.

"Thanks you again, girls" twilight told Applebloom, Sweetie bell, and Scootaloo with a modest grin. "You three are the only ponies who can help right now"

"Awe shucks, Twilight. Anything to help " Apple bloom said waving a hoof.

"Yeah! And Sunny!" Sweetie bell chummed in.

"But what is it we have to do?" Scootaloo asked, still slightly confused.

"You know all those things you wanted to try but your sisters and I told you all it was a really bad idea?" Twilight asked the three crusaders with a more deviant grin this time.

"Yeah!" All three of them said at the exact same time with quite a bit of anxious enthusiasm.

"I want you to do all of them, but with me and Sunny supervising" Twilight answered. "Think you can do that?"

"So I can juggle chain saws?!" Apple bloom beamed.

"I can try my hoof at riding wild hydra?" Scootaloo asked, her eyes craving the dangerous adventure.

"I can taming toads?!" Sweetie bell asked. Both of her companions just looked at her, questioning how that could be dangerous. Reading their faces, the sweet little unicorn filly added. "Rarity said it was unlady like to play around with muddy old frogs."

Twilight cleared her throat. "Well, yes, all of that. You girls ready?"

"Yeah!!!" Try all cheered again as twilight signaled for Sunny to join them. He was asked to stand a couple of yards away while she talked to the girls. He gulped as each of the girls spread out in separate directions and began gathering their necessary items.

"Ugh, Twilight?" Sunny asked, readjusting his hat. "What are we doing?"

"Oh, don't worry Sunny" Twilight said, unfolding a blanket and spreading it out underneath a tree. "You're just going to help the Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell with some crusading."

Just as Sunny was brining to relax, remembering him seeing the girls try and get their cutie marks in stamp collection, painting, animal bathing, and even balloon blowing while he was working on the farm. His relaxing mood quickly gave way to fear when he saw Scootaloo being chased by a giant reptile with multiple snake like heads!

And so the day dragged on like so. One at a time, Sunny would watch the Crusaders attempt one thing after another trying to earn their cutie marks. One 'dangerous' thing after another. And each time he had to act fast and ended up running in and using his magic without a chance to think much about it! Eventually using magic to save the three little fillies made using magic second nature to the yellow unicorn in no time at all. As the sun began to set and the three fillies began to give in to their exhaustion.

Apple Bloom yawned as she checked her flank for the 23rd time today. "We worked all day and don't get one single cutie mark."

"Yeah..." Scootaloo stretched, casting a quick glance at her own still blank flank. "And I even got all those snakes from Fluttershy for nothing."

"Snakes" Sunny echoed, more exhausted then the three fillies combined, bairly able to stand. "I can handle snakes, but why did you go back for the-" he shuttered at the thought "SPIDERS..."

"Ah read it in a book once!" Apple Bloom explained.

"Yeah, this guy who worked in a circus trained a spider to spin a web in his mouth and all kinds of other cools stuff!" Scootaloo threw in there.

"But wasn't he a vampire?" Apple Bloom asked the Orange Pegasus

"Well..." Scootaloo smiled sheepishly, then redirected every pony's attention. "Hey! W-where's Sweetie Bell?"

"I have her right here" Twilight said as she walked up with the tuckered out filly draped across her back, sleeping soundly. "I think it's time to pack it up girls. You three have school in the morning" the purple alicorn then turned to the yellow stallion who shakily stood up and readjusted his hat. "Besides, it looks like you wore somepony out."

Twilight took Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo into town as Sunny levitated a tuckered out Apple Bloom onto his back and made his way back to Sweet Apple Acres. He actually found it easier to use magic then to try and move his hooves around at this point. Apple Bloom was so quiet the entire way home, Sunny had thought that she fell asleep like Sweetie Bell.

"Hey Sunny" she finally spoke up, slightly star talking the yellow unicorn.

"Yeah Apple Bloom? Are you ok?" He asked, nervously looking over his shoulder at her.

"Ah'm fine" she told him. "Ah was just wonderin, tomorrow after we get outa' school, could you help Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and me get ready for the talent show?"

A shiver ran down Sunny's spine as he thought about going thru another day like today, all the running around and stress. But then he looked at the little yellow filly on his back, her eyes showing only innocence, never meaning to cause him any personal trouble. He smiled at her and told her "We'll see. I still have some chores to do, maybe a few more since your sister's gone on some adventure."

That thought caused Sunny to daze off in thought for a moment. He began to wonder if Applejack would be ok. Then horrible thoughts of these 'buffalo' capturing her and hurting her, or something else putting her and her friend in harm's way.

But then a small pat on his back redirected the yellow unicorn's attention. He looked back at Apple Bloom who was smiling at him. "Don't ya worry one bit about mah big sis, Sunny. She can take care of herself and anypony she's with."

Sunny smiled and chuckled lightly. "I believe it. She's a very strong mare, your sister...." Then he thought about that fight with Chrysalis. How she was wrapped up with the changelings that had distracted her and her friends. "But I don't want her to have to do it alone. I want to be able to help her..."

The little filly yawned again. "Is that why yer tryin' so hard ta learn magic? Ta protect us?"

That struck him. Sunny remembered Granny saying something to the effect of 'out of the mouths of foals', but never really understood what she meant until now. "Yeah... I want to protect everypony."

"Ah know.... Ya can..." Apple Bloom was loosing the fight against sleep. "Yer a good stallion... Sunny..."

Those words that that little filly spoke just then touched Sunny's heart. Something about them made him feel like he could forgive himself for... For something. But what was it? Had he done something wrong? He couldn't remember. But still.... He felt like a great weight had begun to lesson from his shoulders.

After arriving back at the farm, he handed Apple Bloom off to Big Mac who carried her up to her bedroom, then he told Granny about Applejack and how she and Pinkie went off to Appaloosa. Sunny wasn't 100% sure what that meant or what a 'map told them', but right now he was so tired he thought he could sleep for a week. After polishing off several tall glasses of water(Twilight insisted on him staying hydrated after using so much magic), the yellow stallion used the restroom then crawled into his bedroom, almost not making it to his bed. As he began to fade of into sleep, he saw something in a momentary dream. A crack of blinding light. And a voice. No. Two voices. They sounded female. And one more, male this time. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he was too tired to care.