Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

To Protect Equestria

After another session at the Ponyville spa, Sunny was beginning to feel like his old self again. It had taken a few days of protein shakes, spa treatments, and taking it easy on the farm, but he was finally starting to recover from the GoGoGo berries. And that meant the yellow unicorn was that much closer to undoing the curse he put on Hoops, Score, and Dumb-bell. But just to be safe, he was going to consult Twilight on his condition. If there was anypony Sunny should confide in about magic, it was her. The yellow unicorn considered talking to a doctor about his condition, but thought it best to stay away from the hospital for now. The more he hung around there, the more Sunny worried that one of the three pegusi might remember that he was the pony who put them in their current condition. Besides, Twilight is the element of 'magic', so who better to ask about a magical related issue then her.

Walking up to Twilight's castle of friendship, the yellow unicorn was about to knock on the front door when suddenly, somepony smacked right into him from behind! "Ugh! Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Easy for you to say!" A bat pony said as she got up, dusting herself off as Sunny laid there on the ground, narrowing his eyes on the mare. "It's not easy for a bat pony to fly around on a bright day!"

"Do I... know you?" Sunny raised a brow as he got up off the ground himself, shaking the dirt off of his signature Stetson hat before securing it safely back on top of his head.

Midnight Blossom narrowed her already squinting eyes at the yellow unicorn, but had a hard time recognizing him. "Maybe, ugh, I don't know. Whatever! I got more important things to deal with right now! Is Princess Twilight Sparkle in?"

"What's all the commotion?" Spike suddenly appeared peaking out of the castle's front doors that were cracked open just enough for the little dragon to stick his head out.

"I need to speak with Princess Twilight Sparkle immediately!" The batpony straitened herself up and saluting the little purple dragon she knew to be the princess's assistant. "I have important news involving her friend, the zebra named Zecora!"

"Zecora?! Is she ok?!" Spike sounded panicked as he opened the door for both Midnight and Sunny.

"She might be in trouble" Midnight explained as she fallowed Spike down the main hall, leading to the thrown room with the cutie mark map. Somewhat curious, Sunny tailed behind them, allowing the two to remain a few steps ahead of him. The little dragon walked as fast as his little legs could carry him, which was little more then a gallop to most ponies. "I need to speak to the princess immediately."

"She's in a meeting with the others, but I'm sure they can stop for this!" Spike stated as he pushed the doors to the map room open.

"...We'll have to leave immediately if we- Spike?! What's going on?" Twilight was speaking with her friends, all of them in their respective thrones around the round table.

"I'm sorry to badge in on you like this, your highness" Midnight Blossom stepped forward and saluted Twilight before Spike could get a single word out. "But my companion, Cloud Skipper, and I were tasked with retrieving the Alicorn amulet from miss Zecora for safe keeping, and taking it to Canterlot."

"I remember" Twilight said as all eyes homed in on the bat pony royal guard. "You were able to retrieve it, right?"

"Yes ma'am" Midnight replied, but her expression remained grim. "But when we arrived at the tree house, we discovered miss Zecora in a meditative like state. She must have been there for quite a while, judging from the spider webs and vines that were growing on her."

"Eeeewww!" Rarity and Rainbow Dash exclaimed their distaste for spiders and webs at the same time.

"Ands you just left her there?" Sunny asked, popping his head around, eye brow raised at the bat pony.

Midnight narrowed her eyes again, anger bubbling up from the insulting notion that she was neglectful, or stupid. She couldn't really tell what the the yellow unicorn was hinting at, but a civilian calling we out on such a delicate operation that e had no idea about struck a nerve with the bat pony guard. "I didn't want to! Cloud said it would be safer for 'her' if she was teleported by magic. So while he flew the amulet back to Canterlot, I flew strait here. Got a problem with that, bub?"

Before Sunny and Midnight could take their conversation any further, Twilight got up off their thrown, and looked to her friends, all of their expressions were identical as their minds came to the same conclusion. "Alright girls, I'll head to Zecora's hut and help get her to the hospital. Rainbow Dash, you Applejack, and Rarity help Spike prepare for our trip. If there's anypony who can get us packed with half the hooves, it's you girls. Fluttershy, I need you and Pinkie with me. The Everfree has a lot of wild monsters in there, and you two are my best bets to keep them off while I levitate Zecora into Ponyville for help."

"Awww" Rainbow Dash was ready to venture into the Wild of the Everfree, wanting to take on a Manticore or a hydra. "Why do I have to stay and pack? That's so boring!"

"Who else could get it done faster then you, Dash?" Applejack asked as she and Rarity got up from their respective thrones.

"Right, you're the, how would you say, our all-star of speed in this game?" Rarity tried to charm her cyan colored friend.

"Well, I guess you guys do need my speed" Rainbow was convinced and began to fly into the other room to help her friends pack for some long trip.

"I shall accompany you back to the hut, your majesty" Midnight saluted Twilight once more.

"Sounds good to me. A little extra help couldn't hurt." Twilight nodded and began to leave the room with Fluttershy, Pinkie and Midnight by her side while Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike and Applejack were about to head out another door.

"Ugh... what should I do?" Sunny half spoke up, unsure if he should have said anything at all.

The girls and Spike all turned around to see the yellow stallion just standing there, looking somewhat lost. Applejack stepped forward before anypony else could say anything, and shot Sunny her sweet, down home smile. "Sugarcube, why don' cha' go see what yer friends are up to. Th' chores around the farm are still caught up, so relax and enjoy yer time off. Soon we'll be back ta wakin' up before th' sun raises again."

"You still should take it easy" Twilight added, her eyes showing some concern. "You don't want to push yourself with casting spells just yet. Maybe take another trip to the spa."

"Oh that sounds divine" Rarity commented. "We'll have to have a girl's day after all this has blown over."

"Yeah! I'll brink the cake!" Pinkie said bouncing up and down.

It was then that Sunny realized something. He didn't want to think too much on it at that moment and have Applejack and her friends feel awkward, so he chuckled to himself and returned the smile. "Sounds like a plan. Another massage and a protein shake could do me some good."

"At'ah boy" Applejack said as she readjusted her Stetson hat and lead her half of the group to go and pack while Twilight and her group raced as fast as they could to the home of the zebra shaken, Zecora. Once they all were gone, and the doors shut behind them, Sunny exhaled his held breath, letting his smile fall to pieces.

"So... this is what I've become... just the 'stay at home and get fat' kind of pony..." Sunny began to say to himself as his backside fell, and his heart soon behind it.

"I mean... it's not like I don't like my new life..." the yellow unicorn began to say out loud as he got up and began circling the round table and the seven thrones that surrounded it. "I love my new life. I have friends. I have a warm and caring home filled with ponies who consider me family, and I have Applejack... I-I mean, I have her in my life! I-it's not like we're together or anything... b-but what I mean is..."

Finding himself discombobulated and very, very confused, Sunny stopped at Twilight's thrown, his back to it's back as he hung his head low, standing in the shadow cast by the throne. "I just... I want to help... but... but maybe it's best that I don't... after all... things didn't go so well the last time I tried to help..."

Plopping his backside right up against the base of Twilight's throne, the former prince of the Crystal Empire began to recall all of what happened 1000 years ago when he confronted his father. He fought valiantly, wanting desperately to set things right and to bring back the bright glow of the empire as well as rekindle the inner light of the crystal ponies... But, perhaps, somewhere deep inside, Sunny knew he had gone easy on his father. Deep down, he didn't want to hurt his father. He had hoped that the King's own son, who he had felt so close to, telling him that what he was doing was wrong and then fighting against him would be enough to shake Sombra free. But it wasn't. And Sunny knew he could never hurt his father. No matter how much pain Sunny had gone through, he never blamed his father. He just wanted to know why his father did what he did. And because of his love for his father, the entire Empire suffered.

Feeling as though his head was full of fluff and wanting to shake it clear, Sunny smacked his head against the bank of Twilight's throne. The vibration from the hit caused a scroll that was sitting on Twilight's throne to fall from it's resting spot and tumble to the ground, opening on impact. "Maybe I should just go into town... see what Thunder Lane is up to... maybe even Doctor and Derpy. I haven't seen them in a while. I know Big Mac went on a date with Apple Bloom's teacher again..."

As Sunny stood up to leave, he noticed the open scroll and thought it would be impolite to just leave parchment like that just lying on the ground. Wanting to practice magic once more, Sunny levitated the scroll up after wrapping it in his green magical aura. Simple things like levitating light objects or opening doors were easy. It was lifting heavier objects and teleporting that was still, at the moment, beyond the yellow stallion's ability.

Rolling the scroll back up from the bottom, Sunny's eyes zoomed in on a certain name that sent a chill down his spine. "Garganda?!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Sunny began reading the scroll over to himself;

"Dear Twilight,

We regret to inform you that the mighty dragon of legend, known as Garganda of the west, is on the move and heading strait for the Crystal Empire. He has refused to speak with anypony thus far, and will not stop moving. Although his movements are slow, he is large and very dangerous. Although we still know not the giant dragon's intentions, it has never been recorded to move from his post for anything less then war. We need you to go and speak with him, hoping he will listen to you and/or any of your friends. Best of luck. We are all counting on you.

Sincerely, Princess Luna"

Sunny paused for a moment after he finished reading the letter, taking it all in. When he was done with his moment, Sunny read the letter over again once more, to see that he read it correctly. To his horror, the yellow unicorn had indeed read it all correctly. Which was what he was afraid of. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down, Sunny rolled up the scroll and placed it gently back on Twilight's throne.

"They can handle it..." Sunny said out loud, heading to the exit. "I'm not a guardian of Equestria anymore. I'm just a simple farm pony... who... who needs to let the real guardians protect Equestria... while he buries his feelings in a chocolate protein shake.... again..."

Head hanging low, Sunny shut the door as he left the throne room behind and made his way back into town, heart conflicted but mind settled.