Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Discovered Hope

The mystery mare had lead Sunny up to the hill that he quickly realized was really a small house covered in snow with a small chimney sticking out of the top. The mare used her magic to lift the snow away from the front door and held it open for the armored stallion. Without hesitation, Sunny walked inside to a dark house. He didn't know why, but something deep inside told the former prince that it was ok to trust this mare.

Once inside, the mare cast a spell and several crystals lit up the room. They were similar to the ones that Sunny had used inside his secret bedroom back at the Crystal Empire Castle. Maybe all ponies of the Crystal Empire used them, but he couldn't remember for sure if they did. Even though he had a lot of his memories back, Sunny still felt like there was so much of himself he had yet to remember. With the whole room lit up, the mare began to take off her protective winter gear and cloak, hanging them up on a coat rack near the door.

The house wasn't that large, one bed one bath I looked like, maybe about the side of the Apple family's living room. Other then the bedroom and bathroom, there was a small kitchen, a couch that could fit ether two adult ponies or maybe three foals, a bookshelf only half stocked with books and scrolls. The books themselves weren't even set up right. They look like they were just set there in small piles, which Sunny thought, would send Twilight into super panic mode. The thought of Twilight's reaction made Sunny laugh a little.

"That's something I haven't heard in a long, long time" the mare said as she let her mane down, flowing around her horn and over her forehead. The mare's dark blue eyes took a good long look at Sunny laughing to himself.

"Ugh... I don't mean to sound weird, but... are you my mom?" Sunny asked sheepishly at the very awkward question.

The mare stared at Sunny with a shocked expression and wide eyes that held quite a bit of confusion in them. After several moments, the mare's mind was able to catch up with them in the moment. She studied the yellow unicorn, looking him up and down. He wore the same armor he had 1000 years ago, he looked almost the same as the last she had seen him, maybe even a little more muscular. It was hard to tell under the armor and... what was that all over him? Coal dust? But there was something else about him. It was in his eyes. Something... peaceful. But his eyes were also questioning, as if looking for many answers.

"Sunny... do you know who I am?" The purple unicorn asked, taking a step closer, studying the stallion closer.

Sunny gulped and began to look nervously from the mare to the door, wondering if he should shoot for a hasty exit. "Ugh... maybe?"

It hit the mare just then. "You... really don't remember me, do you sweetie?"

With a heavy sigh, Sunny gave the mystery mare his full and undivided attention, after tossing his thoughts of running away out the window. "I'm sorry... I lost my memory and just recently got some of it back. I don't mean to-"

Sunny's appology was interrupted by a tackle hug from the mare, one that rattled the yellow stallion in his armor. And even though the black armor separated the two ponies physically, something warm began to grow from the physical connection of the hug.

"A-auntie..." the words began to trickle out of Sunny's mouth, slowly and unsure at first. But deep inside his mind, Sunny was dusting off the clouded memories. "Auntie... Radiant?"

At first, Sunny couldn't tell what the mare hugging him was doing. She kept her head down and appeared to be shaking. But as she looked up to the yellow stallion, Sunny saw tears flowing heavily from her eyes, but a smile was glowing bright on her face. Like the moon shinning on a rainy night.

"I-I'm s-s-so happy y-you're ok!" She cried deeper into Sunny's chest plate as she hugged him tighter, even though she knew he couldn't feel the armor. "I was afraid I lost both of you! And now you're here! I'm so happy!"

Fond memories began to flash in Sunny's mind. From the earliest when he was just a little foal and his Aunt was sneaking him cookies behind his father's back. Or when his father was busy with royal meetings and needed a baby sitter, Radiant would play all kinds of games with Sunny, feed him, bathe him, and read to him. When Sunny got older, he remembered Radiant helping him with his homework when his father wasn't able to. She even taught him a few fun spells, like how to enchant a broom and dust pan to help him clean up his room! Of course, the first time he did that he accidentally caught the broom on fire, but she and his father helped to put out the flames. Later in his life, as Sunny began to take on the duties of a prince, Radiant served as an advisor when he needed a more personal opinion when making a difficult decision. Radiant Hope had been there all his life, how could Sunny have forgotten her?!

"I... I remember now..." Sunny's smile began to grow as he hugged Radiant Hope back, tighter and tighter. "I remember Auntie! I remember how you-"

"S-Sunny!" Radiant spoke in grasps as the air from her lungs was pushed out from the armor clad hug Sunny was giving her.

When Sunny realized he was strangling her, he quickly released her. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I forgot. Here..."

Sunny then began taking the armor off and gently setting it in a pile of to the side, before turning back to face his Aunt who had now caught her breath and smiled back at Sunny with the same enthusiasm and joy she had earlier. The two hugged once more, holding the embrace for several long moments, before finally releasing each other.

"Ugh..." Radiant tried her best to think of what to say next when she noticed some coal dust had rubbed off on her from her nephew. "Why don't you get cleaned up, I'll brew us up some tea, then we can talk. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

Sunny smiled and nodded. "I do... and thanks."

After pausing a moment to smile at his newly remembered aunt, Sunny made his way across the small house to the bathroom that held a single toilet, a small sink, and a shower just big enough for him. He was greatful that working on the farm hadn't made him as big and strong as Bjg Mac, otherwise he'd never get into the tiny shower. After making sure to get every spec of coal dust out of his coat and givin his mane and tail a good lather and rinse, Sunny emerged from a steaming bathroom only to he hit in the face with a big, fluffy bathrobe.

"Trust me, you'll freeze your fur off if you don't dry properly" Radiant Hope said with a smile.

Sunny took a moment to look at the bath robe; it was wool, possibly, very soft, but had frilly lacing all around the neck and bottom. Not something he would choose to wear around the farm house. Although the Apples might get a kick out of it. "Do I have to?"

"You can let your fur freeze and fall out if you want." Radiant said as she pulled up a chair beside a small table, levitating two cups of hot tea over and placing them gently on it. "Or you can deal with wearing a girly bath robe for a little bit. Now sit. I have questions too. Like where have you been all this time?! Where did you go after you returned to the Empire?! And why did you just now pop up?!"

Sunny took a deep breath, threw the girly robe on, and prepared to tell his aunt the tale thus far of his life. "Well... let's go back a little more then 1000 years ago..."

Going back to when Sunny returned from his journey to the Griffin's home land, renewing their negotiations involving where their lands met the local pony's lands, Sunny painted a very dark and all too haunting picture of the Crystal Empire that he returned to. One where the lush green fields were dead and dry, the shinning buildings, homes and Crystal ponies themselves had dulled in their usual shine and become dark and deprived of love. Then, atop of the tallest tower stood his father. Not the kind king Sunny remembered leaving, not the father who raised the yellow unicorn and taught him to be sincere, just, wise and loving. What Sunny met was not a Sombra he had ever seen before. A monster.

"... I... I fought him" Sunny forced himself to continue. "I thought using my puppets to fight would be enough to shake him. Father and I had never fought. Spared a few times, but we never hurt each other..."

Radiant's facial expression was very forlorn, but her eyes remained locked on her nephew as she pushed him to continue. "What happened next?"

"After I lost, he sealed me away" Sunny explained. "I didn't know where until much later. But I was apparently sealed away in a bolder and sent off into the sky, where I circled the stars for 1000 years until just a while ago." A thought caused Sunny to chuckle lightly.

"What's so funny about that?" Radiant asked, confused by Sunny's light laughter.

"They thought I was a comet, and some old stallion named me after him" Sunny began to explain. " 'Gazer's Comet'. Well, getting back to that..."

Sunny went on to explain what happened while he was trapped inside the large rock. About the nightmare he was forced to experience over and over again for 1000 years. How, because of that trauma, when when the spell that bound him was finally broken, and the 'comet' fell, he had lost all memory of who he was and what had happened. That is when the stallion's story started to get better, and Radiant noticed an pure, honest smile began grow on Sunny's muzzle.

The former prince told Radiant Hope about how Goldie Delicious found him on the side of the road and gave him water, a hat to keep the sun off of him, and directions to find her grandniece who might have been able to help him. Sunny went on to talk about coming to Ponyville, eventually making his way to the Apple Farm, helping the Apples out, and finally meeting Applejack. Sunny didn't know it, but he actually went into more details about Applejack then anypony else. Sure, he talked about making friends with Pinkie Pie, Octavia, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Thunder Lane, Big Mac, and a lot of the other ponies in town, and he even told his aunt about some of the crazy adventures he's gone on like when the changeling queen tried to pose as his mother and take him away, the insistent with the timber wolves, or when Lightning Dust almost destroyed the town, but without thinking about it, Sunny kept bringing up how brave, how sweet, how kind, how strong, and how honest this mare named Applejack was. And every time he said we name, Radiant saw a glimmer in Sunny's green eyes. It made the purple mare think of Sombra every time he spoke of, or even thought of Sunny's mother.

"... and well, after I drank that potion, and remembered who I was, I kind of panicked and ran off into the Everfree Forrest... that's... that's where I ran into my father.." The last part was hard for Sunny to spit out, but it shook Radiant and pulled her out of the relaxed mode see was in from Sunny's slice of life story.

"Wait! You saw Sombra?! Where?!" Radiant asked, panic in her voice.

Hesitating only for a moment, Sunny took a deep breath and tried his best to calm down. "He was in the castle of the two pony sisters... in a circular room that had the few windows boarded up... he didn't look good aunty."

"What do you mean?" The purple unicorn started to grew even more concerned then before.

"He... his body was cracked, and underneath his cracked skin it was all black. He kept himself hidden under a large cloth so I couldn't see most of his face" Sunny forced the image of his sickly father back into his mind. "I... I didn't know what to do. I wanted to ask him why he did what he did, with the Empire, with me... but he looked so sick and sounded so tired."

"What did he say?" Radiant tried her best to tread lightly on the subject.

"He... he told me to go to the Empire and gather the things from my bedroom. You know, the secret one?" Sunny told his aunt as he took a sip of his tea.

"You mean the one behind the large golden and black tapestry?" Radiant said with a half smile, cocky that she knew where it was.

Sunny almost spit out his hot tea. "A-auntie! You knew where it was?!?!"

"Your father and I both knew" Radiant laughed a little. "You forget. I'm one of your father's oldest friends. We share everything.... we used to share everything..."

Noticing the pained expression on Radiant's muzzle, Sunny cleared his throat and continued, hoping the story would distract her. "Well... he told me to gather my things, otherwise ponies would find out about me."

This confused Radiant a little. "What? What do you mean 'find out about you'?"

"From what I have seen, no pony in the Crystal Empire, other then you, remembers me" Sunny explained. "A positive side effect from my father's spell, I guess."

"POSITIVE?" Radiant spat out. "Sunny! How could you say such a thing! You were the greatest prince of our time! You stopped a war with the dragons! You kept positive relations with the griffins! And you were always the life of the party at royal gatherings! Why would you-"

"Because I failed..." Sunny interrupted his aunt, knowing what she was going to ask next. "I want to be forgotten because I failed them aunt Radiant... because of me, the entire Empire suffered and fell. All because I... I didn't stop my father..."

Suddenly the purple unicorn with a glowing blue mane realized why her nephew chose a life on a farm rather then his home land, and it wasn't just because of the pretty mare. She moved closer to her nephew and began to rub his back in a desperate attempt to comfort him. "It wasn't your fault, Sunny..."

"Yes it was..." Sunny got up out of his seat and walked a few paces away from his aunt, his back to her as he began to speak again. "I... I could have beaten my father if I tried... but... but I thought just having to fight his son would be enough to shake him out of whatever he was in... because I went easy on him, others suffered for over 1000 years...

"I don't deserve to be a prince" Sunny continued as he flopped his backside down, ears pressed against the side of his head. "I don't deserve to be near my old home, to be remembered for anything I had done for Equestria... I just want to live my life with the Apples at Sweet Apple Acres. There I have friends, and ponies who think of me as family. I don't have to be the one to save Equestria from certain doom. I can just be Sunny. Not prince Soleggiato cavaliere... the failed Prince...

"Applejack and her friends have saved Equestria time and time again, including my father's second attempt at controlling the Crystal Empire. Equestria is safer in their hooves then it ever was in mine." Sunny concluded, not turning around to face his aunt.

"Then why did the Black Knight return?" Radiant Hope asked, already knowing he answer.

Sunny kept silent for a moment while he pieced his thoughts together. "Because... because the Black Knight knew Garganda, and if the girls couldn't stop him, The Black Knight would."

"So there are some things Applejack and her friends can't do?" Radiant asked as she leaned over to Sunny, a faint smile in her face. "Sounds like Equestria needs a little more help then just Applejack and her friends."

Sunny sat on the thought for a moment before sighing. "Well if they need the extra help, the Black Knight will be there. But prince Soleggiato cavaliere is gone. And he would rather stay that way. Besides, the Empire shines brighter with 'Princess Cadence and prince Shinning Armor' anyway..."

Radiant could hear a hint of bitterness in Sunny's tone. "Have you met them?"

"Yeah... I had dinner with them and Twilight... it... went ok, I guess... better then what I expected" Sunny admitted, knowing it would be a disaster, but not wanting to admit that to his aunt.

"I've met them too" Radiant confessed. "They're really sweet, and the love they radiate with does show-"

"But why?!" Sunny snapped as he whipped his head around, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "You said I was such a great prince! And father was the greatest king I knew! But why does the Empire shine brighter with those two then it ever did with us?!"

Radiant's heart hung heavy with the truth, and she wished she hadn't brought it up, but now it was needing to be said. "Do you remember what life was like for you as a prince?"

Sunny's anger subsided as he tried to gather his memory fragments. "Kinda... why?"

"You were the life of the party, that's for sure, and every pony admired you, but you weren't happy. And to a point, neither was your father. Because of... certain reasons, you and your father couldn't be with your mother. That caused a gap in your hearts, and that gap kept the Empire from
Shinning to it's full potential. Love makes the Empire shine, but lack of it can cloud it." Radiant explained as her eyes drifted. "I wish things could have been different for your mother and father. Maybe none of this would have ever happened then."

"I don't understand, why weren't my mother and father together?" Sunny asked, then another question came to mind. "Wait... who... who is my mother? Do you know her?! Is she in the Empire now?! Would she even recognize me?!"

As the thought bubbles into Sunny's head, the former prince found the world around him spinning faster as faster as the ground that was beneath him, suddenly jumped up and met his face as the world then went black. Just before the yellow pony lost consciousness, he felt somepony's gentle wings wrap around him, like they did when he was young. He could hear a gentle voice sing a soothing melody. One that his mother often sang to him when he would stay with her...