//------------------------------// // A Hero Comes to Ponyville! // Story: Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale // by TheothersideofSunny968 //------------------------------// -present day, Ponyville station- As the train pulled in, Sunny and Twilight were the first two to hop off the train and set hoof on the station's deck. Sunny's heart was beating a million miles per hours as he raced down the road and into Ponyville. The sun was at its highest point and most ponies were enjoying their lunch by now. But Sunny had something else he craved. Something that gave his life meaning, setting his spirit a blaze. Something most ponies had and possibly took for granted. A home and family. "I understand if you want to head back to the farm right away" Twilight said, as she tried her best to keep up with Sunny's quick pace. "I'm just going to head back to the castle and check on Spike." Before Sunny dashed off down the dirt road that would lead to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight put her hoof on his shoulder to gain his attention. He stopped and turned to her with a confused look on her face. Twilight wore a soft expression as she looked at Sunny with her amethyst colored eyes. "Just remember, you aren't alone. And if you ever need anypony to talk to, I'm here for you. We're friends, and friends look out for each other." Sunny took a few deep breaths, calming himself down enough to put a hoof on her's and returned a smile. "Thank you Twilight... Thank you for everything." "No problem" the princess of friendship replied. "That's what friends do. Now go on. Go home." Sunny nodded and bolted with speed that could rival Rainbow Dash. Well, maybe not Rainbow Dash. Maybe more like Thunder Lane, at his best. But that's still pretty fast for a unicorn with very little muscle mass compared to an earth-pony. The yellow unicorn dashed through town, slipping and sliding every now and again on a patch of ice or snow, cursing that he forgot his boots. None the less, this wouldn't stop him. Sunny was too determined to let something like snow and ice stop him. As he reached the road that split into a fork, though, something did manage to stop the yellow unicorn. Sunny paused looking back and forth between the two roads before him. One road would lead him to the place he knew he could now called home, the apple farm known as Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack and the rest of the Apple family were waiting for him. But looking down the other, Sunny Knew what he had to do before he could go home. He had to leave his old life behind. With all traces of him now cleared from the Crystal Empire, Sunny knew there was one last ghost from his past. With a deep breath and a heavy heart, Sunny began trotting down the road leading right to the edge of the Everfree Forest. To the castle of the two pony sisters, where he last saw his father. Rapid hoof steps echo through the trees of the Everfree Forest, reflecting Sunny's heart beats. Faster and faster he raced to the castle at the heart of the wild forest. Sunny wanted nothing more then to just go back to the farm and live the life of a simple town pony. But before he could begin life a new, he had to do something about his father. But as Sunny reached the rickety rope bridge leading up to the broken castle, he paused letting his heart catch up with him. After catching his breath and calming himself down, Sunny steadied himself and began walking across the bridge. One thin Sunny wished he had let remembered was his fear of heights. One wrong slip, and he would fall down into a possibly endless gorge of mist. Each step the unicorn took was taken with extreme caution. A long walk across the bridge later, Sunny arrived at the front doors of the abandoned castle. But.... Something was different. Sunny took a long hard second glance at the castle... He couldn't quite put his hoof on it, but something was different then before. The castle seemed familiar.... Maybe he was here previously with his father 1000 years ago. Yeah... Yeah that was probably it. That's how it all seemed familiar. But that wasn't important. What was important was he get to his father and confront him. Sunny didn't know exactly what he was going to say, but a fire in his belly wasn't going to let anything stop the pony. Sunny pushed one of the two large doors open and walked inside. Once inside he quickly retraced his steps back to the chamber where he last saw his father. Sunny still had plenty of questions to ask his father. There was still so much he didn't remember. So much that was unclear, so foggy. Why had Sombra, his own father, turn to the dark side? Why did he sealed Sunny away? There we so many questions left unanswered still. Sunny still felt like he only had half of his memory back. And if anypony could help fill in the gaps, it was his father. Sunny reached the closed off room and forced his way in, pushing a table that had blocked the entryway aside, and ventured into the room. As Sunny looked around, he noticed it looked almost the same as it did when he found his father in it. But the fire that burned in the middle of the room and kept the area warm had gone out, and not recently from what Sunny could tell as he approached it. The unicorn took another glance around, hoping to see his father huddled over, covering himself in those torn down tapestries, but nothing. Looking around some more, Sunny found the cloth Sombra had used to keep himself warm, tossed aside, and just as cold as the fire pit. "He's .... gone..." Sunny said with a sigh as he began to leave, not knowing entirely how to feel about it. He took one last glance of the room before leaving, hopefully for the last time. As the yellow unicorn back tracked through the Everfree Forest and back on the road leading to Sweet Apple Acres, he felt like he was at war with himself. On one hoof, he was now free to start a new life. With Sombra off hiding, Sunny free to be just a regular pony who works on a farm, in a small peaceful town. The crystal ponies don't even remember him, and all the evidence that he ever existed was magically shrunk inside a tiny little bag that he had in his possession. But on the other hoof, what if his father is just waiting to strike again?! What if he is waiting into shadows, stalling until he can make his move?.... "No!" Sunny stopped himself, glaring at the ground as he put his hoof down. "It's not my problem! I won't make it my problem! I.... I couldn't beat him last time... What makes me think I could do it again, now?" Sunny shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind as he continued down the road back to the apple farm. "Equeatria has new defenders. New princesses. All of which seem to be doing a great job of protecting Equeatria. I'm not needed. Equestria doesn't need 'Prince Sunny Knight'. " Taking one last deep breath, he arrived back at the fork in the road just in time to see Twilight flying at top speed strait for him. She put the breaks on just in time to screech to a halt before she collided with her yellow unicorn friend. He scratched his head in confusion as she landed near him. "Ugh, Twilight, everything ok?" "You.... tell me!" She said, barley able to speak as she took in heavy breaths. "I just got back to the castle when Spike told me Applejack was going to lose he apple farm! Somepony from a bank in Canterlot was going to repossess it!" "WHAT?!?!" Sunny didn't wait for his alicorn friend to elaborate. He darted from the fork strait down, heading right for the farm! Both the magic users bolted across the still frozen farm lands, down the road, and right up to the front porch of the farm house. But as Sunny and Twilight flung open the door, what they saw left them beyond confused. They were completely dumbstruck. There, sitting on the couch in the living room was Applejack, Apple Bloom and some other stallion?! He was a light grey unicorn, with a two tone mane of dark grey and white. His eyes were a dark green, and his cutie mark appeared to be a stream of tiny stars with two large ones parallel to each other. Big Mac and Granny walked into the living room just as a small cold draft wafted into the house and alerted the two sisters and the new stallion of Sunny and Twilight's presence. "Well there ya are!" Applejack said with a smile as she tipped her hat. "Well don' let the draft in. Come on an' join us!" "Yeah!" Apple Bloom bounced. "Mr. Alister was just about to tell us how he fought off a hydra! All by himself!" "It really is an amusing tale" the grey unicorn said, his face very relaxed. "Who knew that a beast that size could be tamed by a simple flame? But you know what-" "WAIT!" Sunny screamed over the new stallion, directing all the attention in the room to him. Before he could feel any of the awkwardness from the stares he was receiving from everypony except Twilight, who was just as confused and concerned as he was, he asked the simple as obvious question. "What's going on?!" "I just got back to the Castle and Spike told me you were about to lose the farm!" Twilight said, a mixture of panic and confusion in her voice. "What happened?!" "Well that's a mighty funny story, Twi" Applejack said as she scooted over on the couch making room for her alicorn friend, while also scooting closer to the grey unicorn. Seeing this, Sunny felt his blood begin to boil as he shut the door behind him and walked in fallowing behind Twilight. Twilight took the only open seat, leaving Sunny to either sit on the floor or to stand. After a moment when everypony's attention turned to Alister, no pony seemed to notice that Sunny had no seat. Reluctantly, the agitated yellow unicorn sat on the ground directly across from the grey stallion. His green eyes narrowing at the grey unicorn, waiting to hear his explanation. "Well, it all started the other day..." Alister began to tell the tale. "I came to the quiet town of Ponyville to spend my vacation. I'm a Royal guard stationed in Canterlot, and have been rather busy with my work as of late, so my CO ordered me to take some time off. I was hesitant to do so, being in the middle of a huge investigation, but he... Convinced me it was for the best. I had arrived the other day and had planned to just stay at the local inn. The town being small and somewhat out of the way of most of the busy life in Equeatria, I didn't think there would be a need to call ahead. Well by the time I got to the inn, it was all booked up. Some charity even had come to town and were lodging at the inn. Not a problem, I though, I'll just check the local billboard at town hall for a room for rent. Surely I could find a spare room for at least a week. "When I did, something, or rather, Somepony, caught my eye. He was a stallion I had recognized from a report I received a couple of months back. He wasn't really 'dangerous' per say, but he was still trouble. Not really 100% sure, I decided to fallow him, keeping out of sight. After I fallowed him halfway across town to a local store, one that sold quills and sofas, an odd combination, but still. I stood a few feet away from the door, remaining out of sight, but close enough to listen in. But the weasel was very, very soft spoken. I couldn't hear a single word he said. Not long after he arrived, he left the shop and made his way back towards the inner part of town. I didn't want to lose his trail, so I fallowed him again. He surprisingly lead me back to the inn I started at. " I almost lost him, but thanks to the help of the sweet mare running the front desk, I not only found his room, but was able to confirm his identity. Immediately I stormed up to the room, and with the aid of two other guards, apprehended the fiend. His name was 'Money Bags', a sneaky, smooth talking, fiend who's been illegally repossessing property all around Equestria, then selling it to the highest bidder. He's been quiet up until a few weeks ago. I never thought I'd catch him down here." "But how did you know about Sweet Apple Acres?" Twilight asked, taking all of the story in. "Money Bags kept very detailed notes on his dealings so he could either avoid conflict with similar businesses, or know where to hit up. Sweet Apple Acres was one of the ones marked off with a check mark, but I knew I saw somepony selling apples at a stand from there that morning. While the other guards payed a visit to the Quill and Sofa shop after we locked Money Bags up, to deliver the relieving news to the shop owner, I offered to inform the family who ran the apple farm." "And what good news it was" Applejack chimed in, sweat relief heavy in her voice. "Ah tell ya, ah coulda kissed this stallion when he told me that the ' farm was safe." The notion made Sunny grind his teeth. And the image of such a thing made his blood boil even more, his face even began to turn slightly red as his eyes focused on the calm looking Alister. "He's a hero!" Apple Bloom cheered bouncing in her seat, shaking both Twilight and Applejack. "He saved our home!" "Darn tootin'!" Granny added with a smile as she slapped her knee. "Eh'yep" Big Mac threw in his signature catchphrase wearing a relaxed smile as well. "So ta show our appreciation" Applejack began to say as she looked to both Twilight and Sunny. "We offered him a room ta stay in, for the remainder of his vacation." "What?!" Sunny said, sounding surprised. Everypony was startled by his second outburst and turned to face him with a questioning look. He awkwardly smiled and cleared his throat. "W-what I mean is, well, there aren't any more rooms, right? Could be uncomfortable for him to sleep on the couch for that long of-" "Why Sunny, yer so sweat" Applejack said with a smile as she beamed at him. "But ya don't have ta go and give up yer room." "What?! That's not-" Sunny was shocked and flustered by the very notion. But he was interrupted again before he could continue. "I could never do that" Alister waved his hoof at the suggestion. "Oh, but you know what, I wouldn't mind sharing a room. I'm used to doing that over at the Barracks back in Canterlot. It helps me to sleep to know that I'm not the only pony in the room. Incase of an emergency of course." "I don't like th-" Sunny tried to speak up but was cut off again. "It will be like a sleep over!" Apple Bloom jumped up and started bouncing around. "Ah can't wait ta tell everypony how ah have a real Royal guard stayin' with us!" "But-" by now, Sunny's boiling blood was not to a small simmer as he slowly began to realize that his words weren't going to be heard. "An' in them' mornin', ah'll make ah real special breakfast to celebrate!" Granny added, a smile at reaching from ear to ear on her. "Ugh..." Sunny's attempts to get a word in edge wise were now lacking any of his enthusiasm. The last spark of resistance has fizzled out. "Ya say somethin' there, Sunny?" Applejack and the rest of the Apple clan finally noticed the yellow unicorn had been trying to speak, but couldn't get a word in edgewise. Yes! Sunny could finally tell Applejack and the rest how horrible of an idea it was to let Alister stay with them! And he was about to when he looked around the room, everypony seemed so taken with him. Even Twilight seemed eager to hear what the grey unicorn had to say. Sunny took a deep breath, forced a smile (hoping Applejack wouldn't notice) and repeated what everypony else was saying. "Thank you, Alister, for saving Sweet Apple Acres...." "It's no problem, ugh, Sunny was is?" Alister asked, then forgot his own question immediately. "After all, I myself grew up on a farm, so might help me relax. Almost like I'm back at home." "Ya really grew up on a farm?!" Apple Bloom returned her attention back to the grey stallion. "What kind of farm?! Was it an apple farm? Where is it? Did ya work on it with yer brothers and sister?!" "Why don't we talk about it over some Apple Pie a-la-mode?" Granny asked then leaned in and whispered to Alister. "That there's fancy talk fer addin' ah scoop or two of Vanilla ice cream on top!" To which everypony laughed at the joke and fallowed Granny and Alister into the kitchen to listen to his story and have some desert. Well, almost everypony. The second to last pony to leave the room was Twilight, who looked back at the last pony in the room, Sunny. She couldn't put her hoof on it, but something was off with him. His ears were slightly dropped. And his normal shinning glow had faded as well. She walked over and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Hey" Twilight caught his attention, snapping him out of a slight trance. "Everything alright?" "Y-yeah" Sunny said, raising his head and putting a smile on. "I just, ugh, n-need my hat! That's right! I don't feel right without my stetson hat!" With that, Twilight watched as Sunny casually walked up the stairs and into the room that he would soon be sharing with Alister. As Twilight's eyes followed her yellow friend, that uneasy feeling returned. Sunny had been acting differently for the past few days. Was it his memory? Did getting it back really hurt him that much? She shook it of and decided it would be best to just study up on the effects of memory loss when she got back to the castle. Maybe see if there were negative effects of getting it back. The last glance Twilight took of the yellow unicorn was his shutting the door behind him.