Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Sleepless in Equestria

"Wha-who-wha?" Applejack stumbled her words as she jolted awake, still felt slightly disorientated and confused as to where she was.

Fluttershy who was asleep next to her yawned as she gently stirred awake and looked over at her orange farming friend. "What's the matter, Applejack? Did you have a bad dream?"

Shaking her head clear, Applejack remembered she and Fluttershy were on a train heading back to Ponyville. The rest of the girls stayed back at the Crystal Empire while she and Fluttershy needed to head back home to prepare for a week long stay at the Empire, just incase something else were to happen.

"Eh, yeah, ah guess" Applejack said as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Was it about Sunny?" Fluttershy asked as she stretched and snuggled with her bunny stuffed animal that closely resembled her deviant little pet.

"Why would ya think that?" Applejack asked curiously, raising a brow to her timid yellow friend.

"Oh, ugh, well" Fluttershy didn't want to tell Applejack that she was talking in her sleep and said the yellow stallion's name at least two dozen times. "You seemed concerned about him earlier."

"Well... it ain't like ah don't have no reason too" Applejack admitted as she sat up and looked out the window. "Ah worry bout him gettin inta more trouble, ah worry bout him gettin' his memory back, an worry bout him not gettin his memory back. At this rate, ah'm gunna have more grey hairs then Granny!"

"I think he's just fine" Fluttershy cooed to Applejack as she also got up and walked over to the farm pony's side, joinin gher by the window. "He's probably back at the farm, sleeping soundly in a soft, warm bed, having pleasant dreams."

-Radiant Hope's hidden cabin-

Radiant dabbed the wash cloth into the cool water bowl once more before whipping the sweat off of Sunny's brow. She watched as the Stallion's condition remained the same as it had been for hours. Ever since she brought up his mother, the stallion had been in shock. All the while, Radiant had been contemplating Sunny's condition involving his memory and what her nephew had told her about when he was sealed away.

Sunny had thought Radiant was his mother because he still didn't have all of his memory back yet. She had seen cases like this at the Crystal Empire hospital before after the Empire returned from missing for 1000 years. Some ponies couldn't remember where they lived, what their jobs were, or even their own names. Of course, after the Crystal Heart had been returned to it's rightful place and the ponie's shined with their inner light once more, all seemed to returned to normal. Or so Radiant thought. No pony remembered what King Sombra was like before he enslaved them. Almost as if they lost the time between when princess Amore went missing and Captain Sombra became king. It bothered the unicorn mare, but she researched the phenomenon in secret, asking questions whenever she could. But when she asked the right question, or rather, the wrong question, a pony would go into shock much like Sunny was in.

'Sombra's curse still has hold even over you, Sunny...' Radiant thought as she dipped the towel again. 'Why would you do this, Sombra? To your own son? And why leave me intact? Or was I just lucky to evade the curse?'

-Iron Lock Prison-

The prison had been flipped upside down after Snowstorm finished his 'evaluations' with the other prison guards and a few prisoners that showed potential. Those who had a talent for it began working on new suits of armor, ones that showed more style then the dull armor the princesses have been forcing their guards too wear for the past 1000 years or so. The newer suits of armor were dark grey, almost black, with thin slit for the eye wholes, masks on the helmets that would filter smoke, and spikes that would provide extra defensive as well as offensive priorities. But there were two ponies that Snowstorm knew wouldn't need armor, two that weren't influenced by fear. Two that would be his greatest accents, and possibly the two that he would need to watch the most, and dispose of when their usefulness ended.

"Hey hey hey!" Cynical yelled as he kicked open Snowstorms' office door once more, that becoming his usual way of entering any room. "How's Cappy doing today? Enjoying the feeling of being king of the world yet?"

"King of the world is a bit of a stretch" Snowstorm replied as he ignored the rudeness of the grey Pegasus that he was regretting have freed. "Besides, Sombra will be king of the world, not Snowstorm."

"Identity crisis, eh?" Snowstorm chuckled as he jumped into the chair across from Snowstorm. "Don't worry, I won't tell! Anywho! We got some good news! Or bad news. I'm not sure which it is."

"Would you get to the point?" Snowstorm was beginning to lose his patience, narrowing his eyes on the grey Pegasus sitting across from him.

"Weeeeell" the demented Pegasus began as he spun around in his chair. "The 'Black Knight' showed up as you predicted and saved the Crystal Empire from being smashed to teny-tiny bits."

"I knew he wouldn't let anything happen to the Empire" Snowstorm smiled on the inside, knowing that without the valiant efforts of the former prince, the Empire would have been whipped off the face of Equestria once again. But this time, for good.

"Buuuut it looks like after he stopped giga, or, gigantor or whatever his name is, the 'Black Knight' teleported away and was seen going into a snowy hill with that mare, oh, what was her name?... " Cynical slowed his circling in the chair to play dumb even though he knew the mare's name. He just liked to see Snowstorm get upset. The unicorn was sooooo dull when he acted all serious. And anger was a great outlet for him. "Ah yes! Radiant Hope!"

But rather then get angery, Snowstorm exhaled heavily, becoming more relaxed. "Good work. Now you and Salted get on your next mission. And feel free to cause a little trouble at this one. Just don't get caught."

Cynical was slightly disappointed by Snowstorm's reaction, but he was more excited about the next task at hoof. "Oh fun fun! But Salted's getting a little impatient. He's gunna want the Queen's location when we get back, or he's not going to play nice anymore."

"Tell him we will have it by the time he get's back" Snowstorm cracked a smile. "We have a... little bird who will sing for us any time now. I have a way with animals."

More then seeing Snowstorm angery, Cynical loved the dark side the unicorn recently adopted. It was inspiration to him, truly. "Don't have too much fun while we're gone!"

After Cynical left Snowstorm's office, the dark coated unicorn got up from his seat and walked over the the large refrigerator that he had put in his office for convenience. As he opened the doors, rather then find a chilled beverage or something to eat, the warden of Iron Lock came face to face with a changeling that had been chained up to the back of the hollowed out refrigerator. The creature had taken the form of a little filly who appeared scared and shivering.

"P-please mister" it began to beg. "P-please b-b-believe me! I-I'm not a changeling!"

But Snowstorm could tell without even looking at the pony that it was simply a shape shifter in disguise. Huffing, he narrowed his eyes at the creature in filly form. "You're running out of time. You better tell me where your queen is, or I'll let Salted Carmel beat it out of you."

In that instance, the timid and fearful filly flashed back into it's true form, an insect like creature with wholes and chunks missing from it's body. A being that survived off of the love of others. It snapped at Snowstorm, just inches from him, then hissed as it narrowed it's eyes on him. "The Queen will rule all! You too shall bow before her majesty!"

This brought a smile to the warden's face as his eyes began to glow green and horn began to bible with dark magic. "Yes... why don't you take us to your queen. Show us where she is so I can do just that."

- Crystal Empire Castle-

Cadence walked as quietly as she could through the castle and into the kitchen, careful not to wake anypony up. Even though she had a tough time sleeping, it didn't mean anypony else had to suffer along with her. She loved her husband dearly, but the last few nights he had woken her up with his sleep talking. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just mumbling, or even gibberish, but his dreams thoughts were very focused. And that focus was on a certain sport that Cadence herself was starting to grow even more annoyed by.

'Some warm milk should help get me back to sleep' Cadence thought back to when she was a little filly being raised by her adopted earth pony parents. They had used the trick many times when Cadence was woken up by thunder or a nightmare. As the princess of love entered the kitchen, however, she realized she wasn't the only pony who couldn't sleep.

"Now princess Cadence, if you don't eat your pudding, how can you expect to grow big and strong?" An elderly stallion asked as he looked with his beady little eyes at, not the actually Princess Cadence, but rather Twilight Sparkle.

The princess of friendship had wandered down into the kitchen also to grab a glass of milk after also finding it rather hard to get to sleep. But unlike her sister, Twilight was kept awake by a restless mind full of unanswered questions. As she entered the kitchen moments before Cadence, Twilight was intercepted by an elderly earth pony stallion who was looming over a foal's table set. When Twilight approached the elderly stallion and interrupted him talking to the plate and silverware made for a child, he started calling Twilight Cadence, and insisting she eat her butterscotch pudding.

"Sir, I keep telling you, I'm not-" but Twilight was interrupted as the stallion shoved a big spoon full of butterscotch pudding in her open mouth.

"There now" he said with a wrinkly smile as he readied another spoonful of the desert. "And here comes the choo-choo!"

Cadence would have interrupted sooner, but was trying not to laugh as she watched Twilight's face turn a sickening green. Cadence had foalsat Twilight all her life and knew that her sister hated the taste of butterscotch. Before the elderly stallion could deliver another spoonful to Twilight, who looked like she might lose her dinner, Cadence levitated the spoon out of his hoof.

"Eh? Where did it go?" The elderly stallion began looks around for his spoon, when the real Cadence appeared beside him.

"Pappy, what are you doing up?" Cadence asked as she put the spoon back in the cup of pudding. "Isn't it past your bed time?"

"Eh, maybe" the old stallion mumbled. "But the young prince is havin' bad dreams again. He's gunna want a snack ta help him sleep."

"Shinning Armor is resting fine" Cadence tried to reassure the old servant.

"Not him, th' other feller" Pappy explained, seeming very concerned. "Th' one always playin' off by himself. With them toys he uses ta scare them' maids. Oh! Them girls look cute wren there's scared though!"

Cadence couldn't help but chuckle. Pappy was an odd one, but he worked hard and had a big heart, so she and Shinning kept him on their staff. Despite his antics. "Well don't worry. If I see him, I'll help him get some sleep."

"Ya promos ya'll help him if he needs ya?" The elder stallion's eyes went wide with shocking concern as he turned to Cadence with a shaky nervousness in his voice. "He's a good boy. But he's scared and alone. Them other ponies was mean ta him at school today. And on his birthday too, none the less!"

"Don't worry" Cadence reassured Pappy once more. "I'll make sure he's ok. Princess's honor. Now go and get some rest."

Pappy mumbled a little bit more before leaving the kitchen and making his way back to the room just at the base of the staircase. The stairs were too hard for the old pony to climb, and he rather liked the cozy feeling of the room hidden beneath the stairs. But it gave him rather odd dreams some nights. Dreams about wizards. Witches, dragons, a wizards's school and the weirdest thing about them was the wizards and witches were funny looking ponies that walked on their two back legs and had squishy claws on their front hooves.

"Sorry about him, Twilight" Cadence said as she walked over to the purple alicorn who was rinsing out her mouth over and over again with cup after cup of water. "He's really a sweet old guy, just... a bit eccentric."

After the tenth time of gargling water to get the taste of butterscotch out of her mouth, Twilight relaxed and took a few breaths before responding to Cadence. "That's ok.... ugh... what are you doing down here? Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah" Cadence sighed, the smile fading from her muzzle as she pours herself and Twilight a glass of milk, warming only her own up with a spell. Knowing Twilight couldn't stomach warm milk, ever since she was a filly. "Shinning is dreaming about jousting again. And he talks in his sleep."

Twilight couldn't help but notice Cadence's tone was a little bit less then enthusiastic. "Ugh, has he been like this long?"

"Only since he started practicing and got really good at it" Cadence's expression became more annoyed looking then before. "When we were in high school, I remember he wasn't like the jocks we went to school with. He was passionate, creative, sensitive. And now... now it all 'jousting' this, 'form' that, 'training', 'practice', ugh!"

Wanting to reassure her sister, Twilight put a hoof on the troubled princess's back, patting her. "It's just a phase. You know my brother, he sometimes get's caught up in things, but he'll snap out of it."

"I hope so..." Cadence said as she payed her tired head on the kitchen counter. "We had a small trip coming up after the Crystal Fair tomorrow. I was worried we'd have to cancel because of aunt Celestia's trip, but Luna said it would be fine."

"What? Princess Celestia's on a trip? Where?" This was the first Twilight had heard of this, and wondered why Celestia hadn't let her most faithful student know about it.

"It's supposed to be a secret retreat" Cadence explained, seeing the worry on Twilight's muzzle. "From what Princess Luna said, Celestia's been under some stress and needed to take a break. It's nothing to worry about."

"Well... ok... but do you think it's wise to leave the Empire right now? So shortly after the warning from Garganda?" Twilight asked as she took another sip of her milk.

"I know it sounds like a really bad idea" Cadence started to say as she looked at Twilight with a pair of very tired looking eyes. "But Shinning Armor and I need some personal time together. Just the two of us. No royal duties, no ceremonies, and NO jousting!"

It all took Twilight by surprise to hear how stressed poor cadence was and how taxing it was on her relationship with Shinning Armor. Shaking it off, Twilight puffed out her chest and shot Cadence a look full of bravado. "You can count on my friends and I to look after the Empire for you and my brother. You two just go and enjoy your personal time."

"Thanks Twilight" Cadence said as she pulled her in for a hug. The two had become so close since the first time Cadence foal sat for Twilight. It's like it was meant for the two to be close as real sisters. "You're the best little sister, ever."

"Thanks" Twilight smiled as she hugged Cadence tighter. "And you're the best big sister, ever!"

"Come on," Cadence said as she broke the hug. "We need to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow. Your brother is jousting in the tournament."

"Wouldn't want to miss that" Twilight finished we milk, levitated her and Cadence's cups into the sink, and quickly fallowed her sister up the stairs and to bed.

As the two alicorns walked up the stairs, though, Twilight could hear Pappy snoring in his hidden room. The elderly stallion paused to speak out a part in a dream he had several times over. "There's a storm... coming, Harry...we all best be... ready when she does..."

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