Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale

by TheothersideofSunny968

Large Scoop with a Spark of Lies

"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU PONIES?!?!" Breaking News asked as he slammed his hooves down on the meeting room table again, as he often did when his journalists came up short. Despite being a relatively short earth pony, the owner of the Manehatten times had quite the temper, which gave his body more then enough strength to compensate for his lack of height. "I ASKED FOR HARD HITTING, FIRST PAGE, PAPERS SELL OUT, NEWS! AND YOU BRING ME THIS GARBAGE?!?!"

"Sir" a light green Pegasus mare with a curly yellow mane spoke up. "These stories are the best we were able to dig up on such short notice."

"WHO ARE YOU AGAIN?" Breaking News asked the mare as he sat down in his chair, starting his deep breathing exercises his wife reminds him all the time to do.

"Ugh, Summer, Sir" the mare said as she began flipping through her note book. "Summer Breeze. And if you look over some of our notes again, you'll find a lot of them are real news worthy."

"OH YEAH? What's your best story? Come on! Give it to me! What is so 'news worthy' that I DIDN'T ALREADY READ!" Breaking New's blood pressure began to rise again.

But Summer just gulped and began to slink down in her seat. A stallion who knew Summer, having started working for the Manehatten Times the same time as her, gathered the courage and stood up to speak. "There have been confirmed sightings of changelings still hiding out in Canterlot and even some small towns around the mountain. It would catch ponies' attentions to know that their own neighbor could have been replaced by a monster!"

"AND SEND PONIES INTO A MASS PANIC?! OH, BRILLIANT! NEXT YOU'LL SUGGEST WE TELL THEM THAT TIREK IS DIGGING HIS WAY OUT OF HIS TARTARUS PRISON CELL WITH A SPOON!" Breaking News screamed, causing his journalists to shrink down into their seats. Noticing this, he took another deep breath and looked around the table. When he noticed an empty seat that belonged to a very familiar annoyance, a small smile grew on his face. "Looks like White Out is late for another meeting. That's her 5th one this month. That means-"

Just as Breaking News was about to declare the absent journalist fired, the pony in question burst through the door. "I GOT IT! Front page worthy news! We have to hurry! This story is so hot I had to fight off a bribe from the Canterlot Daily!"

"CANTERLOT DAILY?!" Breaking News couldn't believe it when he heard it. If his biggest rival of all time was wanting the story, it had to have been good. "I don't believe it, what is it? I thought you were supposed to be in the Crystal Empire doing a field report on the Crystal Fair?"

"I was Sir," White Out said as she clumsily walked into the meeting room, a file full of pictures and notes tucked safely under her dominant right wing. Despite the mare's hight and lengthy, elegant figure, she still found it hard to walk around and function. Partly due to her body's awkward length, partly due to her poor eye sight. Despite being an excellent flyer and a passionate journalist, the poor Pegasus was burdened with a tall and awkward body directed by vision that left a lot to be desired. "I was Sir. But you won't believe what happened!"

"WILL YOU GET ON WITH IT?!" Breaking News had a short temper, but his fuse was extremely short for the nearly blind news mare. "AND. IT. BETTER. BE. GOOD."

"Trust me Sir, it is." White Out placed the folder on the table in front of her short tempered boss and flung it open, revealing pictures of not only Prince Shinning Armor, but of some stallion in black armor.

"What?! What is this?! A JOUSTING COMEPETITION?! THIS IS FRONT PAGE WORTHY?!" The blood pressure in the small stallion's body began to shoot up again as he looked over the pictures.

"Look again, sir" White Out said as she spread the pictures out, and began explaining the story. "I was there, covering the fair like you told me, when this guy appeared out of nowhere. They called him 'The Black Knight'."

"What do I care about some clown in a suit?" Breaking began his deep breathing again.

"We'll get this..." White Out began directing the tiny stallion's eyes in a certain order for the pictures. "He faced Prince Shinning Armor in the very first round. Not only is this 'Black Knight' a mystery, and rumors say that he was able to chase off the great dragon Garganda all by himself, but he even cheated in that jousting match and broke the prince's leg!"

"WHAT?!?!" Braking's blood pressure hit an all time high when he heard the story and looked the pictures over. Ponies lie to sell stories, he knew this, but what really sold papers were picture proof! And it was all there in her pictures! The 'Black Knight', Prince Shinning Armor being cared for what looked like a broken leg, and even a blurry shot of the legendary dragon, Garganda himself! These pictures were worth a fortune! The small earth pony stallion narrowed his eyes on his worst field reporter. "How much do you want for these?!"

"I want my salary tripled, three weeks vacation, and a 'real' office with a real desk" White Out knew she had her boss in the cup of her hoof. She just needed to know how to play him, which luckily, she did.

"You get a 50% increase in your pay, one week vacation, and maybe, maybe an office" The stallion said as he gathered the photos and notes back up into the folder and tossed them to the pony next to him. "Get this story going immediately, I want the headline 'Mysterious Menace Attacks Royalty!' Print it! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO GO GO!!!"

With that, almost all of the journalists and other various members of the Manehatten Times got up and began walking out the door. All accept White Out. She remained wanting to follow up with her boss immediately about the story. "Excuse me, Sir!"

But the short earthpony was doing his best to ignore her, despite her hard hitting, front page worthy story. "Ugh, what do you want now?!"

"Sir, the Black Knight is my story" White Out started reiterating. "I want to be the one to take the case. I have leads that tell me where he might be heading off to, and resources that could lead me strait to him!"

"And what makes you think that I'll trust somepony like 'you' to take the story further?!" Breaking said as he walked over to his mini fridge and pulled out some green tea from a bottle. Something his wife insisted he keep a good stock of with his high blood pressure. "I have journalists who have worked the Chrysalis project, followed up on the Princess of Friendship and her friends, and even got me interviews with Princess Platinum IV, what makes you think I would choose 'you' over them?! Do you know how hard it is to get an interview with that diva?!"

This is where White Out really worked her magic. It was one thing to trick Breaking News into giving her exactly what she wanted by asking for more, knowing he would give her a fraction of what she really wanted. But she loved to really have something on him. "I am the only one who knows the leads of where the Black Knight could have headed off too after the fair. I left that out of my notes."

"I could fire you, ya know" Breaking News was no stranger to letting ponies go, and held no loyalty to them, either. That just meant less raises he would have to give them, and vacation time he didn't pay out for. In the long run, it was more cost efficient to have a high turnover rate.

"Do that, and I'll go to the Canterlot Times" White Out snapped, knowing that would really sting. "I'll get the scoop, and offer it to them for a job. I hear they give 'all' their employees desks and offices, starting off at what you pay us after two years of dedication."

Breaking began grinding his teeth, in a desperate attempt to remain in control. After a few deep breaths, the short earth pony began to relax and came up with a brilliant idea. "Ya know what, White Out, you're right. Tell you what, I'm a fair pony. I'll give you those three weeks vacation."

"You will?" White Out asked, thinking it sounded way too good to be true.

"You bet" Breaking replied as a toothy grin broke out across his face. "You have those three weeks to bring me back as much as you can about the Black Knight, including his true identity, or you're fired!"

White Out knew it was too good to be true, but despite the steaks, she smirked, having an ace up her sleeve. Sticking out her hoof to shake on it, she told her short boss "deal! But when I get all of that, I want that 3times my normal salary. Nothing less. And I want it to backdate for my 'payed' vacation."

"The vacation ain't paid" Breaking said through his grinding teeth again.

"This one will be" White Out said, a sky smirk on her muzzle. "Or I'll take my info elsewhere."

Thinking for a moment, Breaking gave up and conceded. "Ugh, fine! You can have it paid, 'if' you get the story! Got it?! And I want picture proof too!"

"Deal" White out said as she shook the short stallion's hoof, tossing the banes of her grey and white mane out of her face. "Always a pleasure doing business with you, Sir."

Despite her crafty and cunning ways, White Out lived in a poorer part of the big city of Manehatten, in a run down apartment, with her unemployed husband. The lucky stallion to marry such a hard working newspaper reporter was a dark grey, black maned, green eyed unicorn. Sounds like the dream of every mare, right? As White Out flew as fast home as she could to begin packing, her husband was hard at work, as always, on his extensive chore list.

"Ok...let's see" Thunder Veil said as he levitated a chore list on parchment and quill up in his dark green magical aura. "Bathroom, check. Kitchen, check, bed-"

At that moment, several small sparks shot off of the dark grey unicorn's horn, causing a small power surge in his magical flow, and sent the quill shooting through his parchment and strait through the floor. With a heavy sigh, Thunder knew exactly where his quill went, and he knew his downstairs neighbor wouldn't be happy about another visit from him.

You see, Thunder Veil is tortured with a magical disability. Randomly, and without warning or explanation, sparks of electrical energy shoot out from his horn. He had been born with this illness, which might have been the reason he was put up for adoption. Thunder didn't have any memories of before the orphanage, and even the memories of growing up there he continued to forget.

As Thunder began to drag his hooves out of his apartment, ready to yet again apologize to miss Tulip down stairs for making another hole in her roof, the dark grey unicorn was stopped. In front of his doorway stood a short and rather annoyed looking landlady.

"Make another hole, Thunder Veil?" Miss Orchis's words were harsh and very flat. The tiny mare had owned the apartment complex for years before Thunder and his wife moved in. Despite only having one source of income, due to Thunder's illness, she bent the rules and gave them a fairly inexpensive room. But her patients has been growing thin with all the complaints from other tenants. Thunder may have been very polite, and really nice once you got to know him, but the tiny mare quickly found out that politeness doesn't fix holes in roofs, broken windows, or anything else 'accidentally' destroyed by Thunder's 'abnormality'.

"Excuse me, miss Orchis" Thunder started to say, not making eye contact with the little earth pony. "I was just about to pay miss Daisy down stairs a visit to-"

"Don't bother" Miss Orchis snapped. "She and half of the other renters on the floors above and below you have already moved out! Do you know how much money I've lost from you two?!"

"I'm sorry miss-" Thunder started to say, suppressing another surge of electrical energy. The surges grew worse the more nervous or more excited the unicorn became.

"Sorry?! SORRY?!" Miss Orchis started to turn red in the face. "Does sorry pay for all the damage you have caused?! Does 'sorry' put food on the table?! Does 'sorry' even come close to giving me back my 3 star rating?! 3 out of 5 stars doesn't sound like much in this town, but buster, it's heck of a lot better then the one star I have now! ONE STAR! My complex has 'ONE' star thanks to all the damage you have done! Why, if i could go back in time and stop myself from ever renting to you, I'd-"

Thunder couldn't hold it anymore. Miss Orchis's rant was going on too long for him to hold it in anymore. A massive surge of electricity shot out of Thunder's horn, scorching the entire door frame and shocking miss Orchis until her main stood out. By the end of the wave, the little mare was all covered in black charcoal, her glasses cracked slightly, and her mane stuck up like needles in a push pin.

Not saying another word, the wide eyes, shocked, and tired looking mare let out a slight cough then handed a notice letter to the unicorn. Thunder apologized to miss Orchis one last time before she began her painful walk back to her own apartment, ready to clean off and enjoy a nice hot bubble bath. Each step brushed some black debris off of her, as well as earned a painfilled grown. Walking past the pain stricken mare was another tenant and good friend to White Out, a Pegasus mare named Silver Sky.

The white Pegasus with a pink and blue mane had just hopped out of a nice refreshing shower after a long day of chasing out of control storms, when she thought she should pay her friend a visit. Noticing her land lady, Silver was about to greet the normally friendly mare, but stopped herself when she noticed the charred state the little earth pony was in.

Casually walking past the frizzled land lady, Silver Sky made her way to White Out and Thunder Veils's apartment. She caught the dark grey unicorn as stood at his doorway, a flushed look on his own muzzle as a letter fell from his dissipated magical aura.

"Wow, why the long face?" Silver asked as she leaned down and picked the letter up. Shock soon spread across her own muzzle. "Evicted?! You guys are being evicted?!"

"It's all my fault..." Thunder's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach as he slumped down onto his back legs.

"Come on" Silver said as she grabbed the dark grey unicorn by his tail and began pulling him inside. "We'll figure something out."

After an hour or so of talking it out, looking over the letter and bouncing ideas off each other, Silver sky was finally able to calm Thunder down enough to get him to think. She knew if she could get him to focus on one thing that he could begin to relax. But before the two could actually figure something out about the couple's inevitable eviction, White Out burst through the door.

"You guys won't believe this!" The light grey and white mare proclaimed as she rushed over to give her best friend and husband a big hug. "I have got 'the scoop' of the sentry!"

"That's... Great! White" Silver tried to sound enthusiastic, but dread from the news she was about to drop on her oldest friend made it difficult to wear a smile.

"Yeah, honey... I'm glad to hear it" Thunder commented as his wife released the two of them.

The Pegasus reporter shot the two a concerned look. "Something bad's happened, hasn't it?"

Letting out a sigh, Silver was about to break the hard news when Thunder jumped in. "The entire complex is being renovated."

"Renovated? Really? The whole place?" White Out asked, then noticed another hole in the ground. "Did miss Daisy complain again?"

"Ugh, well..." Silver started to reply when Thunder interrupted again.

"There have been some things miss Orchis has been wanting to fix up, and now she finally has the money to do it." Thunder casually continued to lie. With all the focus he puts into keeping calm, he has mastered the poker face. Making any lie he says sound 100% believable. "Most of the other renters have gone on vacation until the repairs are done."

"Well that does explain why I haven't seen any pony around much..." White commented. "And why those bratty little kids from upstairs have been quiet for the past week. Ugh! I was hoping they moved out for good. Oh well. Anyway, this couldn't have come at a better time.

"I'll get us some tea and I'll tell you two all about it!" With that, White Out went into the kitchen to brew the beverage.

When the half blind mare was out of the room and out of ear shot, Silver turned to Thunder and whispered. "What are you thinking?! Why didn't you tell her?!"

"Tell her what?" Thunder snapped, several sparks flying lightly from his horn. After a moment of getting his breathing under control, Thunder Veil continued his explanation. "I can't let her know that I've screwed up this badly. While we're away, I'll find us a new place to live. Maybe even our own house."

"But you guys could barely make rent here!" Silver spoke slightly louder, then hushed we tone down. "What makes you think you could afford a house?"

"What choice do we have?" Thunder calmly replied, desperate to keep his sparks under control. "Any other place we try would just turn us away.... I... I can't do this too her, Silver..."

Silver sky glanced at the down trotted unicorn, sparks still flickering off of his horn as he hung his head low, desperately keeping his emotions under control. She knew how much Thunder meant to White Out, and she to him. Smiling and shaking her head, she knew she had made up her mind. "Fine. I'll help you look too. I'll send you letters about various places. But you'll owe me one."

"Thank you so much Silver... it's a deal." Thunder's ears perked up as he looked back at Silver and smiled lightly.

"What's a deal?" White Out asked as she Carried in a tray holding tea cups and a tea pot.

"Oh, ugh, just..." Thunder was caught off guard.

"I was just telling Thunder how good of a sale canned bread was on at the market" Silver spoke up, saving Thunder from his word stumble.

"Canned bread is real?" White Out asked as she sat down, almost forgetting about her 'big scoop'. While the reporter mare told Thunder and Silver about her adventure to the Crystal Empire, Thunder's mind was also reeling with ideas of new locations to check out while his wife was preoccupied.