Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Photographs

It was a dreamless sleep Sunny was in. One that lasted the rest of that day up until early the next. He had gotten used to waking up before the rooster's crowed, but with the only sound outside being a slight snow breeze, Sunny didn't sleep as easily. A part of his mind knew that there would be no crowing to wake him up should he sleep in too late, and the stallion's mind wouldn't let him drift off too deeply into sleep. When Sunny fully awoke, the yellow stallion found himself in the only bed in the entire house. That jogged his memory of where he way, Sunny looked around for his aunt, Radiant Hope.

He didn't have to look for too long before he found his sweet aunt sleeping soundly in a plush arm chair in the corner. Getting up and out of bed, Sunny levitated a blanket over to Radiant and coated her in it. The crystal unicorn mare smiled at the warmth as a book fell from her lap. Curious, Sunny picked the book up and looked inside. Immediately, memories began to flood back of stories Radiant and his father had told them about how they met;

It was many years ago, not long before Star-Swirl the bearded picked Celestia and Luna to become the princesses of all of Equestria. Guards at the boarder of the Crystal Empire who were on patrol had found a coal colored colt wondering around in the middle of a snowstorm. He was brought immediately to a hospital and checked out. The poor colt seemed to have suffered from memory loss, for the only thing he could saw was one word. And that word became his name.

"Sombra..." Sunny looked up and saw Radiant hope had her eyes cracked open and a small smile on her face. "That was all your father could say when he arrived at the orphanage. Why don't you bring that old book over here and we'll look it over it together."

"You should be resting" Sunny said, getting up from his spot, only to almost fall over. His knees felt weak and gravity seemed to be fighting to pull him back down to the ground.

"So should you" the purple unicorn said with a grin as she raised an eye at her nephew. "But you're like you're father. You'll keep going till you pass out-"

Radiant stopped herself too late as she caught the pain in Sunny's expression as she compared him to his father. "I-I'm so sorry, Sunny. I didn't mean to..."

"It's ok. Really" Sunny said as he picked the book up and carried it over to his aunt who was still covered in the thick blanket in her easy chair. "So... was this you two when you were younger?"

The purple unicorn looked down at the album, she knew fully well that Sunny remembered the photo and knew the answer to his own question, but didn't want to say anything. He must have been trying to redirect the flow of emotion right now in a desperate attempt to hold down the pain. "That's right. Your father wasn't very popular with the other foals at the orphanage. In fact, I was his only real friend. No pony liked me very well either because I was, well, a little odd. I was always making up games for us to play, often changing the rules as we went along so it didn't get too boring. Your father loved playing them, even if he couldn't tell who was actually winning.

"Other then playing our games, your father threw himself into his studies and soon was the smartest colt in the class. But that only made the others pick on him more" Radiant could remember the cruel tricks they pulled and all the names they called him. "But As bad as things got, I always found a way to take your father's mind off of it."

"Maybe you should have been my mother" Sunny played at, shooting Radiant a half smile.

His playful joke earned a small blush from the crystal unicorn. "D-don't say stuff like that! Your father and I were more like brother and sister more then anything! Besides, your real mother..."

Sunny's ears twishced as his pupils went wide, his mind reeling as it tried to piece something together. But a thick fog remained in his head and clouded the image of his mother. Radiant saw that Sunny was trying to remember, but at the moment couldn't. As much as Radiant wished she could tell him, the crystal unicorn knew she couldn't say anything without risking Sunny's health. Sending him back into a coma like state.

After taking a deep breath, Radiant turned back to the book. "As we grew up, our passions grew in separate directions. Your father was, well, a genius and had obtained many skills with unicorn magic but wanted to train to become a royal guard, while I found my talents and own passion in helping sick and injured ponies heal. But while our paths were different, we still stuck together.

"When your father would get hurt from pushing himself with his royal guard training, I would heal his injuries, just for him to jump right back into the fight the next day." Radiant chuckles to herself as she flipped forward a few pages, landing on a few pictures with her in a nurse's outfit and Sombra in Crystal guard armor looking a little bit more then bashed up.

"He wasn't afraid of getting hurt, was he?" Sunny half joked as his eyes looked over the various pictures.

"Not really" Radiant smiled. "He knew I could heal most of the injuries he's get. Broken bones were the only thing that I had a hard time with. Those I could just kick start the healing process. But cuts, bruises, sore muscles, all of that would just take about an hour or so... but there was something that took longer to heal."

The green eyes of the former prince looked up from the pages at his aunt who began to think back to her past. "What is it, Auntie?"

"Well, your father would get sick every year around this time, probably with the changing seasons. Do you remember? After you reached a certain age, you insisted on filling in for him during his absence." Radiant hoped that saying that, bringing up part of Sunny's past wouldn't hurt him, like it did with the mention of his mother.

However, the mention of this just caused Sunny to think back to those days, and the memory cleared up. "I... I remember! You took care of father after giving me some tips on what to do with the Empire! I helped with the Crystal fair opening ceremony! I made my first speech that day!"

Relaxing and smiling at her now glowing nephew, Radiant nodded as she flipped a few more pages over to an image of Sunny at a balcony at the crystal castle, addressing all the Crystal ponies. Sunny's eyes went wide as he remembered how proud he was to have not only aided his father, but to see the inner glow of the Crystal ponies shine brighter then he ever had before. After a moment of gazing at the picture, two questions popped into Sunny's head.

"Hey, Auntie" Sunny began to ask. "How do you have these pictures from when you were a foal if the photograph wasn't invented until after I entered the guard academy?"

"It's an old spell a shop owner taught your father and I" Radiant explained as she flipped back a few pages to a picture of a younger her and sombra standing outside a crystal shop with a mare wearing rather large glasses. "She taught your father and I how to capture an image in our minds and how to transport it onto something. She would preserve images of family portraits into large slabs of crystal, which created a very popular business. Your father worked and started impressing images into metal, but that proved very difficult. I, on the other hoof, had the idea to cast them onto small pieces of paper. Your father thought it was silly because paper wouldn't last as long as Crystal or metal. But who's laughing now, huh?"

Both the ponies laughed lightly at the fact that Radiant's idea actually caught on and inspired the modern photograph. Once the two finished laughing, Sunny quickly remembered his second question. "So... if my father was just a royal guard, how did he become king? Was my mother the princess of the Crystal Empire or something?"

"Well... no..." Radiant thought about her words very carefully, not wanting to trigger anything. "You see, before your father came to power, the empire was ruled by Princess Amore. She was the nicest, sweetest princess I had ever met in my youth. I think she had the ability to see into the hearts of other ponies, and spent her time helping them grow."

"Wow, so kind of like the Crystal Heart?" Sunny asked, remembering his last trip to the empire when he first met Princess Cadence and Shinning Armor, and how he was able to gaze into the ancient relic and see what lay in his heart.

"Exactly" Radiant smiled as she continued. "She had seen the potential in your father and knew he would be a great leader one day. Somepony just needed to give him a chance. Despite working twice as hard as anypony else, your father was still not very popular or well liked. He was more skilled at combat and magic then anypony in the royal guard, having put every ounce of his energy into his training. But there was one issue...."

"He never got his cutie mark!" The memory of his own father's blank flank jogged Sunny's memory. "They were all jealous that dad worked his way into becoming a captain with no cutie mark or special talent!"

"Well put" Radiant nodded and flipped to another page where Sombra stood proudly next to a few other crystal guards and a very tall unicorn mare who's body and mane were decorated with all different kinds of crystals. "Your father worked hard, but the captains at the time wouldn't let him become anything more then a private without a cutie mark. That is, until princess Amore approached them and told them too. That really didn't sit well with them, but orders were orders."

"I bet they didn't like that" Sunny's voice trailed off.

"No, no they didn't" Radiant continued as she flipped through a few more pages. "But your father proved himself both on and off the battle field. Time after time, your father proved to not only be a fierce guard, not one to be messed with, but also that he loved to protect and serve his fellow pony as well. He helped in any way he could around the empire. Whether it was aiding me at the hospital, helping to repair and expand the Empire's boarders into the tundra, working on the local farms, or even going back and lending a hoof to our old orphanage. Soon he was recognized by not only the Royal guards, but the entire empire as well."

"It's kinda cool to hear about dad working on a farm too... but..." Sunny remembered how his father was well liked within the empire, but he still didn't know how he had changed. What could have brought on such a change in his father.

"Hold all questions until the end, please" Radiant motioned, sounding more like a tour guide. "Now where was I, oh yes! Pappy!"

"Pappy?" Sunny raised a brow.

"Princess Amore loved and trusted all her guard's and subjects, but none more then the stallion who raised her. His name was simply 'Pappy', I'm sure you'll remember him later." Radiant smiled, remembering the crazy old colt. "But as I was saying, as a precaution, princess Amore instructed Pappy with a letter, one that should only be opened if anything were to happen to her.

"It was a declaration that would make your father king should she be unable to perform her royal duty" Radiant continued, but her joy filled expression faded. "One day, years before you were born, Princess Amore went on a mission of peace to speak with the yetis of the northern mountains, but never came back. Guards searched high and low. But as far as they could tell, the princess and the guards she traveled with just disappeared. Weeks went by, and the Empire needed a leader. Even if the letter hadn't been given to Pappy, I'm sure the ponies of the empire would all have agreed to Sombra becoming King."

"Why 'king'?" Sunny asked. "Why not 'prince'."

"For a number of reasons" Radiant's expression became lighter as she ventured away fro
The topic of princess Amore. " the title 'prince' would mean he married Amore, which he didn't. That, and kings and queens never last in power long. So here in Equestrian, the titles 'king' and 'queen' were. Ore or less given to individuals who were holding the place of power for a short time. So Sombra happily accepted the title of 'King' knowing one day he would have to step down from his thrown."

"But where did princess Amore go?" Sunny asked, feeling now to be a good time to ask questions. "I mean, my father was King for a long time. My whole life and then some. He... he didn't do something bad to her, did he?"

"I doubt it" Radiant tried to put Sunny's mind at ease. "He never wanted to become king. He only stepped into it because it was needed of him. I know your father well. Truest me. Whatever happened to him to turn him evil happened years after the princess disappeared."

"I wish I knew what happened..." Sunny broke eye contact and stood up. He sighed heavily as he walked over to the bookshelf and blankly skimmed over the titles of the other books.

"Why don't we get some sleep?" Radiant suggested as she cast a spell around the blanket, separating it into two smaller ones. "It's almost one in the morning. If you get some sleep, maybe I'll be a good auntie and take you to the Crystal fair. But only if you get some sleep."

Raising a brow, Sunny turned to the now gleeful unicorn mare. "I don't think that's a smart move. The Crystal ponies didn't recognize me last time, but I don't think that will work a second time."

"Oh, your auntie Radiant has a few tricks up her sleeve" Radiant slyly smiled as she snuggles beneath her blanket and levitated it's twin over to the bed. "Now get some sleep. That's an order, mister."

Shaking his head but smiling while he sighed again, Sunny walked back to the bed and laid down, covering himself with the newly formed half blanket. Radiant's magical aura glowed around the blanket as it tucked Sunny in, a feeling he only felt a few times from living on the apple farm. Sunny looked up once more at Radiant Hope and whispered with an honest smile as he began to shut his eyes and drift off into a deeper sleep then before. "good night Auntie..."

"Good night, sweet prince..." Radiant smiled as the words escaped her lips once more. Words she hadn't spoken to him since he was a little colt.