Sunny Days, or formally Heather, has given up on trying to get back to her own world. Now, new enemies and friends await, ready to help or destroy her. Can she stop these new evils with her friends, new and old? Or will she fall by the hooves of the King of Shadows?
Contains: light gore.
IMPORTANT!
This story is old and will not be continued, if you want to continue reading, look at the Rewrite.
After several weeks of recovery, I decided to look through the Canterlot Archives for a way home, though it took a few sleepless days for me to go through all of it.
“Sunny?” A worried voice asked.
“Yes, mom?”
“Maybe it’s time for you to take a break; you’ve been up for days!” she told me, “Get some rest.” As reluctant as I was to rest, the only thing keeping me up was the occasional cup of coffee.
“Maybe you’re right….” I started before exhaustion finally washed over me, causing me to collapse. Catching me in her magic, my foster mother lifted me over to my bed before I passed out. Maybe, just maybe, I could live here, even with everything I’ve been through.
I kept thinking about that day, the day I finally gave up on trying to find a way home, even if just to see my parents again.
”Sunny?”
‘Maybe it’s for th-’
“Sunny!” I finally heard a voice say. I took a look up to see a panicking Twilight, “Apple Bloom is gone!” That snapped me out of my thoughts.
“We need to find her, then,” I told my panicking friends, “Applejack, where do you think she… could’ve…. go-” I stuttered to a stop before my eyes grew wide. ‘Buck,’ I thought with realization, ‘She is going after Zecora.’ Taking a look at my friends, I cryptically asked, “What starts with ‘Z’ and rhymes with ‘lacora’?” In response, Applejack’s eyes widen.
“We Need to get her!” Applejack exclaimed before muttering, “That foalish pony…” After a quick gallop into the Everfree, we finally found Apple Bloom following Zecora. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack yelled, catching not only AppleBloom’s attention, but Zecora’s as well.
“Beware!” she warned, “Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!”
‘Leaves of blue? What leav- oh…’ I realized as I looked down, ‘Those flowers. Now, where did I see those flowers from?’ I turned back to my friends and found them already leaving. “Hay! Wait up!” I yelled after them.
As I woke up, I got out from under my covers like I usually do. Yawning, I took one step off my bed and immediately fell off, causing my brain to wake up fully.
‘Gah! What the buck?!’ I thought with shock as I took a look around the room. After a few minutes, I noticed that everything seemed to have gotten bigger overnight. ‘Wait,’ I thought, ‘They didn’t get larger, I got smaller!’ Immediately, I run over to the door, willing it to open with my magi- THWACK
‘Ouch…’ I groaned mentally as I fell on my rump, “Why didn’t the door....” I started before realizing that my voice was higher pitched than it usually was. This caused me to come to one conclusion, ‘I’m…. I’m a child again?’ I pondered. ‘Ok, let’s try this once more…’ Backing up while planting my hooves on the ground, I started to summon my magic, willing it to grasp the doorknob to open the door.
Nothing happens.
‘That’s great. I’m trapped in my own room with no way out, stripped of my magic, and stuck in the body of a foal,’ I thought bitterly, ‘I guess I have to call for help.’ I lifted a hoof to my neck only to realize that my necklace wasn’t there. ‘Buck….’
Meanwhile…
“Um, girls?” I asked, “Where’s Sunny? It’s not like her to just skip out on something, based on what you all told me about her.”
“Now that you mention it, she hasn’t missed out on something unless she tells us in advance,” Rarity commented.
"We should go find her, because if she is affected by the curse as well, she needs to be there with us to get cured.” I told them. After getting a nod from each of them, we went to her house first since that was the most likely place for her to be.
After a few futile minutes banging on the door, I came to the conclusion that nopony was coming, until I heard a voice.
"Sunny?" a voice that I recognized as Twilight called out.
"Twilight?" I called back, "Is that you?"
“Sunny! Where are you?" she asked.
"In my room, I'm trapped!"
"Hold on! We're coming!" I heard hoofsteps getting closer, when I thought they were about to past....
"I'm in this room!" I yelled, hoping to direct them to the correct room. After a few moments, I saw the doorknob rotate, followed by the door opening.
"Sunny...?" Twilight asked while looking around.
"Down here," I called out. Taking a look down, she gasped at what she saw.
"W- What happened...?" Twilight managed.
"I honestly don't know. Oh, and one more thing, don't, and I mean don't tell my mother, as she will probably use this to her advantage." I said. As Twilight left the room, I started to follow only to collapse from exhaustion. "W- why do I feel so weak all of a sudden...?" I managed, catching Twilight's attention. As I was struggling to get up, I felt a pair of hooves lift me up. Looking up, I saw Twilight putting me on her back.
"You can ride on my back until your strength returns, Sunny," Twilight told me, like I have any choice on the matter. As we were walking back to the rest of the girls, I kept thinking I forgot something. I realized what it was when I heard a faint knocking on the front door.
'Buck, my mother was coming over today,' I mentally face-hoofed, 'That's what I was forgetting.' Sighing, I said, "Come in." As the door opened, I sat on the sofa with dread, bracing for anything that could happen.
"Hello, Sunny..." she stuttered to a stop when she saw me.
As she walked forward in silence, I quickly said, "I swear, it's not what it looks like!"
"It doesn't look like what? My little filly," she asked jokingly, causing me to groan.
"Out of all the things you could've done, and you chose to tease me?!" I asked her, trying to keep my anger in check. ‘At least she didn’t use my current predicament to her advantage….’ I barely finished the thought when I was embraced by my mother.
After she finally released me, she turned to the other girls, just apparently just realizing that something was wrong with them, “If I may ask, what happened?”
Before somepony could speak, I cleared my throat, “I have an idea, and before you ask, it’s not a curse.” I said, causing the other girls to raise their eyebrows.
“Not a curse? Then what is it?” Twilight asked skeptically.
“Poison Joke, I- I remember reading about them. It’s a bright blue flower that puts the victim in the most embarrassing situation they could be in.” I explained, “In my case, it’s having to relive my foalhood.” ‘I really hope this isn’t permanent.’ I thought to myself.
“Well, how about you girls go and try and find a cure for this, while me and Sunny stay here,” the Princess said.
“Why can’t I go?” I complained to my mother after the other girls left.
“For one, you’re cut off from you magic, and two, your stamina is lacking,” she paused for a moment, “I just realized, you’re acting just like a foal…” My eyes widen when she said that.
‘She’s right, I was just acting like a foal. I wonder if the Poison Joke affected my mental processes.’ I pondered.
“Is everything alright, Sunny?” my mother asked in a worried tone. It was at that point I realized I was on the verge of crying.
‘Yep, it definitely affected my thought process.’ “N- nothing, it just an effect that the Poison Joke had on my thought process,” I told her, “Oh, I just realized I forgot to tell you about something I learned I could do when me and Rarity were captured.”
Raising an eyebrow, she said, “You learned something?” Before I could respond, my stomach growled. “Looks like a certain filly is hungry,” my foster mother joked, trying to keep a straight face.
“This is not how I planned this to go today,” I muttered to myself, “I guess I can have an apple,” I said cautiously. After my mother left the room, I released a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. ‘I really hope they find a cure soon,’ I thought as my mother came back into the room with a cut up apple.
“Here you are, my little filly,” she teased again, having a harder time keeping a straight face. I shot a glare at her.
“Not. Funny,” I deadpanned. I’m, for some reason, having a hard time just saying that short sentence. Sighing, I grabbed an apple slice with my hoof (though ever since I got my memory back, I kept wondering what enabled a hoof to grab something) and stuck it in my mouth, beginning to chew. After a few minutes, I finally finished off the apple (and discovered that I didn’t have as many teeth as I used to have, making it harder to eat). “Now where was-” YAWN “- I?” I managed though my exhaustion. ‘Wait, why am I tired all of a sudden?!’ I thought as it became harder and harder to keep my eyes open.
“It looks like it’s a certain filly’s nap-time.” my mother snickered, no longer being able to keep a straight face.
“No, I’m not tired,” I managed between yawns, “Not…. tired…. at all…..” I managed as I drifted into slumber.
For the first time in my life here in Equestria, the Sun decided to be my enemy. As I opened my eyes, I released a yawn as I looked around the room. At first, I was confused when I realized that everything seemed to be bigger than me, but then I remembered. 'I can't believe that all of this wasn't a dream....' I thought bitterly. Stretching, I got off the bed and started to walk through the open door, heading into the living room. When I entered the room, I noticed that Twilight was waiting for me, next, I noticed that her horn was back to normal. "Hey, Twilight." I managed between yawns.
"Hey, Sunny. How did you sleep?" she asked.
"Could have been better," I told her, "Though, how long was I out for?"
"Since noon," she told me. Taking a look at the clock in the room, I noticed it read six-thirty.
"Wait, you mean I was asleep for six hours?!" I asked, annoyed, "Why didn't you try to wake me?"
"We couldn't wake you," she said simply, "Come on, let's get you cured," she told me as she picked me up, putting me on her back.
"Hey! I can walk!" I protested, though I made no attempt to get off, as she would just put me back on her back. Giving me a smirk, she started to walk out the front door. After a short (and humiliating) trot over to the spa, I was brought to a room with a hot tub filled with what appeared to be water. "Seriously? Water is the cure?!" I asked, barely able to keep my anger in check.
"Not alone, there are herbs and other ingredients in there as well," she told me. Sighing, I reluctantly lowered myself into the water, going under to get the full effect. As I sat there, I could feel my strength and magic returning. After a few more seconds, I came back from under the water. "Did it work...?" I started before realizing my voice was still higher pitched. Seeing a glass of water, I instinctively used my magic to levitate it over to me, taking a sip out of it before putting it back.
"Your magic returned," Twilight noted, "Though you're still the size of a young filly."
"Jeez, Twilight, I never would of guessed," I replied with a roll of my eyes. Getting out of the tub, I proceeded to levitate a towel over to my to dry myself off when I saw a violet aura engulf the towel. 'Uh oh,' was all I had time to think before I was covered by the towel, getting dried vigorously. After the towel finally lifted off of me, I shot a glare at Twilight, who bore a sheepish grin. "Really, Twilight? You too?" I asked. Releasing a sigh, I told her, "Ok, let's get back to the house, I need to send a letter." Another short trot later, we arrived back at my house, where I proceeded to get an quil and some paper out. 'She is so going to do something to me next time she's over...' I thought with dread.
A few weeks passed while I was stuck as a foal; those were humiliating weeks. Since the Joke’s cure didn’t work completely, my foster mother would come by and check on me every few days, thankfully no longer joking about my predicament. During that time, I did a little research on alicorns to find out why the cure didn’t work completely. One thing I found out is that alicorns has an inert resistance to magic. Another thing I learned is that alicorns age much slower than any other species in equestria. I theorized that I was only part alicorn before, enough to look like one but not enough to have every trait an alicorn has. But now, I’m fully an alicorn, though there isn’t enough evidence to support it. Anyways, I was flying home from Zecora’s after reporting my findings to her in the middle of the night when I felt something constrain my wings, causing me to plummet. I closed my eyes in fear, thinking it was the end for me, only for something to catch me. Opening my eyes, I saw what looked like changelings. Before I could come out of my shock, they put something on my horn before covering me in some kind of green goo. I started to charge a spell when I felt a nasty shock go up my body, causing me to yelp in pain and pass out.
“Ugh,” I groaned as I opened my eyes. Looking around, I noticed I was in a cell of familiar crystals, bound by the same goo that they covered me in before I fell unconscious. After a few moments staring at the crystals, I realized something important, ‘Those crystals, they are only found in one place, the crystal mines under canterlot…’ I thought with dread. I tried to move my legs to my neck so I could activate the enchantment on my necklace, but to no avail. After realizing that I was stuck here with no way to get out, I just sighed and said, “At least it can’t get any worse,” something that I would regret later on. Then I mentally facehoofed, ‘Duh! I can cast magic!’ I started to charge up a spell when I felt a shock pass through my body, forcing me to cancel my spell so it would stop the pain. ‘Or maybe not…’ Sighing, I decided to get some sleep, hoping that this was just a twisted dream.
I was walking around a ruined Canterlot, trying to find out what happened. A few minutes later, I came across the body of a white alicorn that I recognized as my foster mother. “NO!” I yelled as I ran to her side, crying into her coat.
“Sunny….” a voice said, causing me to look up.
“Who’s there?” I asked. Suddenly, a ghost like figure of a bearded pony with a wizard's hat appeared.
“Hello, Sunny,” the figure said.
“Who are you?!”
“Who I am… doesn’t matter right now. What you’re seeing right now is the future that awaits you, and only you have the power to stop it,” he told me as he waved a hoof at the scene around me.
“S-Stop what…?” I questioned, “What power?”
“You’ll know in time, for now, just rest.” The image started to fade as I realized that this was only a dream.
”Sunny?” a voice said, causing me to stir, ”Sunny, can you hear me?” As I started to wake, I looked around for the voice that caused me to wake up, when I found nothing, I started to drift back to sleep when I heard, “Sunny!”
“Hello…?” I asked, my mind still waking up, “Who’s there?”
“Sunny it’s me,” the familiar voice said, my eyes widening when I realized who it was.
“Mom?!” I asked, “How long was I gone for?”
“A few months,” this caused my eyes to widen even further, “I’ve been worried sick.”
‘A…. a few months?! That can’t be right, I could of sworn I was out for a few hours.’ I thought with dread, worried about how much worry I caused by disappearing. Taking a deep breath, I asked, “Do you think you can send a detachment of guards into the mines under canterlot? I recognized the crystals down here.”
“I’m sorry, the mines closed down years ago due to collapsed tunnels,” she informed me, “I can’t send any down.”
‘Great,” I thought before saying, “Well, then I’m stuck here until I’m found, then, as my body is restrained and there is something preventing me from using my magic.”
“Buck,” I heard her mutter before hearing something that sounded like struggling, “Gah! What are you doing?!” before the connection was severed.
“Mom?” I asked, getting no answer, “Mom? Can you hear me? Buck….” I cursed. I started to struggle against my bindings in an attempt to get out, only to fail. Sighing in defeat, I was about to lose hope when I heard what sounded like voices. Yelling as loud as I could, I yelled “Help! I’m trapped!” As the voices stopped, I started to hear hoofsteps speeding towards me, revealing Twilight and another alicorn, this one was Pink with a blue heart-like cutie mark.
“Sunny!” Twilight exclaimed, “You’re ok!” After they managed to get into the cell, I was embraced by Twilight.
“Um, Twilight? Could the reunion wait until I’m free?” I asked, causing Twilight to blush in embarrassment.
“I guess you’re right,” she managed while she worked on getting me free, starting by taking a ring-like object off my horn.
“Um, Twilight, I’m thankful that you’re here and all, but I was told that the mines were closed down due to the dangerous environment, thus nopony could come down….”
“I didn’t come here on my own free will, I was forced down here by an imposter Cadance,” Twilight grumbled. Not even asking who Cadance is, I just waited until Twilight gotten the goo off of me, allowing to stretch my legs and wings. “We need to get out, something is happening in Canterlot,” I informed them. With Twilight taking lead, we started to try and find a way out of the mines, running into dead ends and collapsed tunnels every few minutes. Finally, after what seemed like hours, we finally came upon some wooden boards blocking the path with light pouring through the cracks. I started to pour magic into my horn, using it to try and move the boards out of the way, with no success.
“Come on, help me get the boards out of the way,” I said, not able to do it myself due to the lack of nutrition, leaving me too weak to do anything except for a simple telekinesis spell. Together, Twilight and who I assumed was the real Cadance, poured magic into their horns while I rested to catch my breath. After a few minutes, they got the last of the wooden board out of the way, allowing us back out into the outside world. Taking a look around, I noticed a barrier around Canterlot. “Come on!” I told Twilight and who I assumed was Candence. Taking lead, I started to gallop up the mountain, with Twilight and Cadance in tow, However, I tripped and fell about ten yards up, causing me to roll back down the mountain. I would have rolled all the way down if I wasn’t caught in a lavender aura, stopping me inches from the edge. Lifting me onto her back to rest, Twilight and Cadance continued to gallop up the mountain. After a few minutes of running, we made it to the entrance, where a guard ushered us in after seeing how weak I was. Dropping me off at a hospital, Twilight told me that she and Cadance was going to head up to the castle to stop something. Ten minutes passed as I started to drift into unconsciousness when I heard yelling, along with a changeling busting into the room I was in. Too weak to fight back, I was easy picking for the changeling. I didn’t even have the strength to move as he, I think, started to wrap me in some green goo, the same kind that they trapped me in when they first caught me a few months back. After the goo solidified, he lifted me up and started to carry me out. After a short trot up to the castle’s throne room, I first noticed Twilight along with the rest of my friends guarded by a few changeling. What I noticed next, however, angered me to the bone. Lying at the base of her throne with numerous gashes on her body was my foster mother. Though I completely lost it when I noticed there was a pool of blood forming around her body and staining her fur. With a yell, I felt energized, as if I had a limitless supply of energy and magic at my disposal before blacking out.
As I came back to the waking world, I felt a strange yet familiar presence around me. Opening my eyes, I noticed I was back in the hospital with my mom at my bed side, with her bandages barely visible against her white fur. She didn’t seem to notice I was awake. “Mom?” I called out, feeling drained.
“Yes, Sunny?” she asked with a obviously worried tone.
“W-what happened?” As she was about to answer, my friends came into the room.
“Hey, Sunny,” she stated simply, “Feeling better?” despite my drained state, I managed to nod.
“Hello, my faithful student,” my mother greeted. Turning back to me, she started to tell me what happened, with Twilight filling in on details she missed…
several weeks earlier…
When Twilight noticed Sunny, she had a hard time containing her rage. However, her expression turned to shock when a silver aura started to form around Sunny. With a yell, everypony in the room felt a wave of power never felt before, on par if not stronger than the princesses’ magic combined! A few seconds later, after Twilight noticed Sunny’s eyes turned pure silver, the changeling and the goo containing her exploded outwards, freeing her from her gooey prison. With skill and power nopony seen before, she started to shoot blasts of magic at every changeling in the room. As the beam hit each one, they disintegrated immediately. Only half a minute had passed and almost every changeling were piles of ashes or retreating. Queen Chrysalis, however, wasn’t going to let a mere foal stop her. Noticing her charging, Sunny shot a blast of magic at Queen Chrysalis, blasting her back. During that time, Shining had made it to his wife-to-be and they connected their horns, causing a blast of magic to emit from their horns, blasting away the changelings into the badlands. However, that blast also threw Sunny into a nearby wall, knocking her out as the aura around her dissipated. Getting out of her shock, Twilight galloped over to Sunny, checking her for injuries, when she found none, she quickly moved over to her mentor, who was just waking up…
“Wait, I did that?!" I asked doubtfully. After several nods, I decided to just lay down and just hope that this was only a dream. I will definitely be scratching my head the following week about what just happened.
After my brain finally rebooted from that revelation (and I still don’t understand what happened fully), I asked my friends if I could ask my mom some questions in private.
After they left, I dropped the first thing I was wondering, “Mom, where did you get my name from?” A simple question, yet it could have a huge story behind it.
“To be honest, I named you in honor of a friend of my that disappeared shortly after your aunt was banished,” she told me.
“What can you tell me about her?” I questioned.
“When my parents found her, she looked a lot like you. The only difference was the fact that she had several scars on her barrel. You…. you remind me of her a lot.” Since I didn’t want to have her in a bad mood (trust me, you don’t want her in a bad mood), I decided to change the subject.
“Ok….how about my loss of control of my…‘ability,’ or whatever it was, during the wedding?”
“Not sure,” she admitted, to which I lowered my ears in disappointment, “Though I do have an idea.” My ears suddenly perked up at what she said. Seeing my reaction, she continued, “Although I’m not sure how much of this is true, I do know it was before I was born. Ancient texts mention a lost tribe of ponies that were able to access something called the ‘Spirit Realm.’” Stopping for a moment for me to take it in, and to catch her breath, “The texts mentioned that they had four abilities, but only three are known, to peer into it, to take in energy from it, and to fade into it…”
“Wait a moment,” I said as I realized that I may be a long lost descendant of this tribe, “What did the texts say the realm look like?”
“It’s similar to Equestria, but the only difference is that it’s grayscaled. Why do you ask?” My eyes widened at that, as that sounded exactly like what I seemed to see when I was captured by changelings the first time, when I learned I could go invisible.
“Umm… remember that thing I mentioned when the Joke was still affecting me?” a nod, “ Well, whenever I go invisible, that is exactly what I see.”
‘Sign one,’ a voice said.
“Odd, the texts also mentioned that those from the tribe have a silver aura for their magic...”
‘Sign two.’
“...there is also the fact you can seemly take in extra energy and magic from seemingly nowhere…”
‘Sign three.’
“...though what I don’t understand is just why you are showing these traits, could be a coincidence.” she finished.
‘At this point, I doubt it…’ I thought. “I guess the only thing to do now is to rest until I get discharged,” as that word left my muzzle, a doctor came into the room.
“Ok, you majesty, your daughter is free to go,” he said.
“You told equestria of my existence while I was out, didn’t you?” I asked.
“There was no point in hiding it anymore, as just about everypony in canterlot was aware of your presence when Twilight brought you to the hospital, that and the explosion of energy that you released was felt all over equestria,” she told me.
Sighing, I got off of the bed, stretching my limbs and wings to wake them. “Looks like I’m going to have to stay in Canterlot until this blows over…” I muttered to myself, following my mom out the door, only to be greeted by a lot of reporters. Before I could say anything, I got bombarded by questions, questions that I didn’t want to answer, so I instead just looked at my foster mother for help.
“Come on, my little ponies, give my daughter some room, she just got out, after all,” she managed to disperse the crowd of reporters, who were grumbling about not getting their answers. I mouthed ‘Thank you’ towards my foster mother as we walked back to the to the castle to get my old room set up as I was probably going to stay there until things die down.
I would love to say that I handled the reporters quite well. I would love to say that I don’t have to deal with them again. However, if I did, I would be a liar. Reporters would swarm me whenever I leave the castle. It came to the point where my foster mother had to assign a few guards to me to guard me from them. Thankfully, I don’t have to leave the castle to keep in touch with my friends in Ponyville thanks to a spell that I’m learning. However, the spell takes a lot out of me whenever I cast it. Because of this, I’m predicting that it’ll be a couple of months before I can cast it without any problems.
“Ok, lets try this again,” my foster mother started. We’ve been at this for a few hours, with each attempt ending in failure or burnt scrolls. First, I imagined the target, my foster mother. Next, I started to pour magic into the scroll while casting the spell at the same time. The end result was, unfortunately, a burnt scroll, which was confirmed when I got no message back. Sighing, I got another scroll and continued to practice. Five more attempts later, I finally got a message back.
‘I got it’ was all it said.
Smiling to myself, I whispered “Yes” before fainting from exhaustion.
I took a look around me and saw a city made from crystals. As I was about to go explore, something picked me up off the ground and held me close. As I struggled to get out, I could hear familiar voices yelling to let me go before everything melted into shadows.
What I saw next nearly drove me to tears. It was something I wished I never had to relive again. I saw myself walking through the castle like I usually did in the morning when I was ambushed by several nobles.
“Let's see you mother protect you now,” one of the nobles said. I suddenly felt a huge burst of pain flare through my wings as they were ripped off, blood pouring out of the wounds left behind. I kept shouting for them to stop but to no avail. After a few minutes of torture, I notice Blueblood trot up to me.
“You don’t deserve to be a princess,” he said before raising a knife to stab me. With tears flowing down my face, I closed my eyes and braced for the pain.
“Sunny?” A regal sounding voice said.
Opening my eyes, I noticed that Blueblood was gone, along with the rest of the scene. While I looked around in confusion, I heard the soft sound of wings flapping and a soft ‘thud’ behind me. Turning around, I was greeted with the sight of Aunt Luna. Still crying, I buried my head into her fur while Luna stroked my mane.
“It’s ok,” she tried to reassure me, “it was only a nightmare.” Her attempts to soothe me were in vain as all it did was cause me to cry even harder. Five minutes of crying and attempts to soothe my terror later, I finally stopped crying.
“T-thank you, Luna,” I managed after I calmed down enough, T-thank you for coming when you did.”
“Tis-It’s no problem,” she corrected herself, “If it meant to save you, I would of gone to tartarus and back.,” she said with a smile. It was so infectious it caused me to forget the nightmare for a moment, long enough to smile.
“Once again, thank you,” I thanked once again, “Now that I know it was a dream, I can take it from here.” Sadly, I didn’t have time to mess around in my dream because it started to fade.
“Ugh, why did I have to wake up now?” I complained to myself after I shot up into a sitting position.
“And let you still experience that nightmare?” a voice said, “Why would I do that to my own niece?”
“Good morning, Aunt Luna,” I greeted while I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. When I finally did, I noticed that I was in a hospital room...again. “Ok, what happened this time?” I asked bluntly.
“Magic exhaustion,” my aunt explained, “You overdid it when you was practicing that spell. You weren’t even due to wake for another five days while you recovered.” Suddenly, the memories came flooding back to me, though if I wasn’t due to wake for another five days then it must’ve been bad
“How long was I out for?” I asked with curiosity.
“Almost a week.”
“A week?!” I yelled while trying to get up, only to be held down by my aunt’s magic.
“None of that,” she scolded, “You still need your rest, and you know it.”
“Yes Aunt Luna,” I sighed in defeat, knowing that she was right. I just rested back unto my stomach as I watched her leave the room.
For the next few hours, I tried to get back to sleep, but my body just refused to sleep. I would’ve used my magic to get one of the many books in my room, but I was under strict orders not to use my magic until I fully recovered. So I just laid there, doing nothing, for three long hours. Just when I thought that nothing exciting will happen, the door opened up to reveal six familiar mares and my mom.
“Hey....” I said in a bored voice.
“What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked, of course she would.
“Nothing, just bored,” I sighed.
“Couldn’t you use your magic?” I just shook my head.
“See this ring on my horn? The doctors put it on there because I kept using my magic,” I explained, “It prevents me from using my magic.”
“Why would they do that?” Fluttershy asked.
“That is because she is supposed to be resting,” my mom said, shooting a stern look my way, “After all, she is suffering from magic exhaustion still. Also, even though you have the intact mind of an adult, you act like a filly that is easily bored. Maybe I should treat you like one?” she mused. I instantly paled at the thought. That was not a good sign that she was having those thoughts. “If I catch you doing anything that can land you in the hospital, I will make sure you’ll never leave the castle when I’m not around to keep an eye on you. Do. You. Understand. Me?” she said in a stern voice that honestly scared me. Glupping, I nodded vigorously, fear clearly in my eyes.
Twilight decided at that moment to step in, “Princess, you need to give Sunny a break, after all, she has been through a lot as of late.”
Releasing a sigh, my mom said, “I suppose you’re right, but my notion still stands.”
Even with Twilight’s intervention, I was still shaking so much in fear that I could tear down a house as if I was a earthquake. I was so scared of my own mother that I ended up hiding under the covers like a scared foal. Only my tail was visible.
“Now look what you did,” Fluttershy said in a stern voice. Coming over to the side of the bed, she lifted the blanket to see me still shaking in fear. She then proceeded to try and calm me down, which worked to an extent, as I stopped shaking in fear. However, I still refused to come out from my soft hideaway.
When she asked why, all I would say was, “Not until she leaves.” My mom took the hint and left.
“She’s gone,” Fluttershy whispered to me, then with a warm smile she said, “You can come out now.”
Slowly, I made my way out from underneath the covers and saw that she was right. So I just rested on my stomach. Pinkie, being the mare that she is, tried to immediately cheer me up, an action that was mimicked by my other friends. However, no matter what they tried, they couldn’t get my spirits up.
A couple hours of futile attempts to cheer me up later, a doctor told my friends that I needed to get some rest if I was going to get better. This, in turn, got them to ask if they could stay with me through my recovery. The doctor, surprisingly, said yes! The reason? Because they were my closest friends, despite my (apparent) age. After getting everypony set up with sleeping bags, we all hit the hay for the night so I can get the much needed sleep that I was pulled from earlier today.
“That is really strange,” the doctor commented as I was given a check up. It’s been about four weeks since I got out of the hospital, even though I haven’t fully recovered. So I was taken in for a monthly check up to make sure I was recovering properly. However, it only revealed something strange.
“There seems to be a new mana pool that seems empty,” from my studies, I learned that it is from there that a pony gets their magic from, “However, it doesn’t seem to hold mana, per se. Readings are saying that it’s some kind of unknown energy that is stored in it, based on the residual mana that is in there.”
“That is strange,” my mom said.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll like to study this further to see if it has any negative effects on your daughter.”
“If it can help protect her if it does, then yes.”
‘I don’t have a say in this?’ I thought, ‘Not that I care of course.’
“Great! Come back in a month or so, ok?” the doctor asked. My mom gave a nod.
“Come on, Sunny,” she told me. I hopped off the table that I was on and followed my mom out of the clinic. When we cleared the corner, I asked something I’ve been meaning to ask for a while.
“Mom?” I called out.
“Yes?”
“I’ve been wondering if I can learn to fight,” I asked in a shy voice, still not comfortable around her. She only raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I never thought I would hear you say that…” she commented, “But may I ask why?”
“It’s just…when I was captured last time, I was taken down without problem. If I knew how to fight, then I’ll be able to defend myself, at least long enough for help to arrive,” I took a deep breath, “If I knew how to fight, I wouldn’t have to rely on having guards to protect me wherever I go….” I would have continued, but I felt a hoof on my shoulder, causing me to look up.
“Sunny, I’ll let you learn how to fight,” I immediately perked up at this, “but the guards are not just for protection. Even I have personal guards with me when I leave Canterlot.” She smiled at me, causing me to forget what happened a month ago for a few moments, long enough to smile.
“I know, but sometimes I just want to talk to some of the locals, only for a guard to prevent me from doing so,” I said, looking down. She was silent for the rest of the walk. When we reached the castle, the guards bowed with mutterings of “your majesties.” Not long after, two guards, one that I recognized as one of my personal guards joined us.
As we were walking, we stopped by my room, “Sunny, I had this made while we were out, as I think you’re old enough now to have a set.” I just cocked my head as I tried to figure out what she meant. With a nudge from her wing, I walk into my room to see a chest in the middle of it. Cautiously, I opened it to find a golden crown with what looked like a fire red ruby embedded in it and some golden hoof-shoes similar to the ones my mom had. Looking back, I noticed that my mom had a smile on her face as she walked into the room.
“This is for me?” I asked, just to make sure. With a nod, my mom’s horn lit up in a golden aura as my crown did the same. Lifting it up into the air, she moved it until it rested on my head, the ruby faintly glowing.
“The ruby is enhanced so that it glows when on the head of a true ruler,” she told me, “And even though I didn’t give birth to you, you’re still the best daughter anypony can ask for,” she said with a nuzzle, which I promptly returned with one of my own and a smile.
“T-thank you, mom,” I said, my eyes watering.
“Come on, let’s see if we can find you an instructor.”
As we walked, I had a noticeable spring in my step. My mom’s words kept echoing in my mind, “You’re still the best daughter anypony can ask for.” Any fear and worry I had about my mom just...faded. I was pulled from my thoughts when we reached the training courtyard.
As we walked in, everything that was going on was brought to a stop as everypony bowed to us. While my mom gave a polite nod, I just smiled. After a few moments, everypony got out of the bow and returned to what they were doing, except for a single unicorn that troted over to us.
“Your Majesties,” the unicorn bowed, “What can I do for you?”
“I want to know if you can teach Sunny how to defend herself without magic?” my mom asked, to which the unicorn started at us in shock before regaining his composer.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” he asked, “She could get hurt. Badly.”
“I know, however, I’m asking due to the fact that Sunny felt weak when she was captured last time,” she explained.
“How is a young filly like her going to be able to keep…” he started before I interrupted.
“Trust me, I’ve been alive for a few decades now, so I’m not really young,” I said with a chuckle, “I also have the desire to learn so I don’t make the same mistake twice,” he got quiet for a few moments.
“Oh alright,” he relented, “But know that it will be quite painful. Are you sure you still want to do this?” I gave a nod, “Ok, give me a couple of weeks to set up a training regimen for her.” He told my mom. “Oh, I almost forgot, my name is Golden Sword,” he told me.
“Nice to meet you, Golden. I can’t wait until our first lesson,” I said with a smile, a smile that he returned.
The first lesson was right after my second check up after getting out of the hospital. I seem to have fully recovered because they finally removed the magic nullifier off of my horn, allowing me to use my magic again, though I was advised not to use my magic for a few more day so the effects can wear off. True to his word, the first session was really painful, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was worse.
“Come on, I think it’s time to take a break,” Golden said with a chuckle.
“No, let’s continue,” I said as I put down my right foreleg, which caused me to yelp a bit.
“While I appreciate the enthusiasm, you won’t be doing much with an injured leg, and I don’t think your mom will forgive me if you get landed in a hospital because of me,” he told me, leaving no room for arguing.
“Fine,” I said in a huff, not wanting to stop now, even with a small sprain. With a visible limp, I made my way back to my room, hoping that I didn’t pass my mom on the way.
“Sunny?” a voice said, “What happened?”
Turning around I was face to face with my mom. “I sprained my leg while training” I said with honestly. When I noticed sparks coming off of her I quickly added, “But I was the one who insisted that we continued,” calming her down, just a tad.
“Where are you going now?” she asked.
“My room?” I said uncertainly, only for her to shake her head.
“I think you should visit the infirmary first, then take a few weeks off.” I sighed, knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to argue with her, “But I’m surprised that you managed to get a sprain on the first day!” she said with disapproval in her voice. Lifting me onto her back, we started to head to the infirmary so I can get looked at, and like I said, I had a sprain in my right foreleg.
As we were heading back to my room, I said, “You might want to inform Golden about what happened.”
Without a single word, she deposited me onto my bed when we reached my room. As I was about to pull the blanket over me, a golden glow engulfed it and pulled it over me.
“Goodnight, Sunny,” my mom said with a nuzzle, which I returned.
"Sunny, it's time to eat," somepony said while shaking me. Releasing a yawn, I opened my eyes to see the face of my mom, who was looking down at me with a playful smile. "Your friends are here as well," she added, which resulted in a groan from me.
"Ok, ok. I'm up," I grumbled while rubbing my eyes with my hooves. On instinct, I got off my bed on the right side, which led to me putting most of my weight on my right forehoof, causing me to yelp in pain. "I don't think I'll be walking there," I said to nopony in particular after I put on my regalia.
"You're right," my mom said, "That's why I'm going to carry you there."
What?
Before I could protest, I was lifted up by my mom's magic and deposited onto her back. "I don't have a choice, do I?" I asked, to which I got a no in response, along with a smirk. As we got closer to the dining room, I could hear the voices of my friends chatting about various things, though I couldn't make out what they were saying.
My friends bowed when they noticed my mom enter the room.
“Where is Sunny at?” Fluttershy asked when she got up from her bow, “If you don’t mind me asking, that is?”
“She’s right here,” she said as I looked past her.
“Hi girls,” I greeted them as my mom deposited me onto the one of the many chairs at the table.
“You certainly look the part now, Darling,” Rarity commented as she took a look over me. However, when she noticed the bandages on my right foreleg, she said, “Darling! What happened?”
“I….May or may not have sprained it during a fighting lesson,” I said sheepishly. Now I had their attention. While they looked at me with shocked expressions, I took samples of the food, trying to decide what I want. When I finally decided, Twilight turned her glare towards her mentor.
“Why did you let her learn how to fight?” she asked, looking like she is at the breaking point.
Before my mom could reply, I beat her to the punch.
“You beat her to the punch?!” Pinkie screamed out while we all looked at her in confusion.
“Pinkie, there is no punch here,” I said, “What are you talking about?” Before Pinkie could continue, an orange hoof covered her mouth.
“Do ya really want tah know?” Applejack asked. I had to admit, she had a point.
“No, I don’t. Anyway, the reason why I’m learning how to fight is so that I can defend myself and so we don’t have a repeat of what happened when I was captured last time,” I said with a shudder, cringing at the memory.
Twilight still looked angry, but dropped the subject. “Now then, how about we eat?” I asked, to which everpony’s stomach rumbled in agreement. After we ate, me and my friends started to trade stories about what happened since we last seen each other. Though that was brought to an end when we heard the door open to reveal a light gray coated unicorn with a light amber mane with a compass rose for his cutie mark.
“Auntie, You’re needed in…” he stuttered to a stop when he saw us. I took a look at Rarity and noticed that she was giving him the death glare. I don’t know what he did, but Rarity seems to have a bone to pick with him. Then he took a look at me and marched over to me.
“And who might you be?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. I could hear the sounds of giggling around me, though I had no idea why. The Unicorn just looked shocked, shock that was replaced with anger.
“How could you not know me?” he demanded, “After all, I am Princess Celestia’s nephew,” he said as he stuck his nose up.
“And I’m her daughter,” I said in return, which received more giggles, “If you really wanted to be known, you wouldn’t be a suck up brat of a pony who only care for himself,” I narrowed my eyes, “If you don’t want to get hurt, I suggest you back off.” I left it at that.
“And what are you going to do, foal?” he said, causing the other mares to gasp.
“Blueblood,” my mom warned, “There is nothing that I can do to stop her now,” she said with a smirk. He just frowned at her.
“What are yo-” he started before he got hit in the head by a vase before getting picked up by my magic and thrown across the room. At this point, Rainbow and Rarity were on the floor laughing their hearts out while the others trying to suppress their giggles that were threatening to turn into full blown laughter.
“Sunny, I don’t think that last part was necessary,” she said with a frown.
“I would of gone easier on him if he didn’t call me ‘foal’” I said with a smirk.
My mom turned to the guards at the door, who were trying not to laugh, “Take Blueblood to the infirmary,” she told them. They saluted and took Blueblood away.
“I guess I’m in trouble?” I asked.
“Yes,” she says simply.
‘I don’t care what the punishment is, but that was so worth it.’
“Ok, ready to go at it again?” Golden Sword asked as he raised his wooden sword.
It’s been nearly a year since my first lesson, and I’ve come a long way since that day. First, I can actually get through a lesson without getting an injury after the first couple of lessons. Nearly a month later, I was actually able to beat him in a spar. After the Fiftieth win, he moved me up to using swords. It wasn’t as painful as hoof-to-hoof combat, though it came at a close second. I was able to win, occasionally, but it still wasn’t consistent at first. Now, several months later, I was able to beat him (and some of the other guards) in a spar, consistently.
I gave Golden a nod as I raised my own sword in my magic. Faster than I could blink, he sprang forward, trying to catch me off guard. I just sidestepped while doing a jab. He rolled under it and swung his sword, blocking it with my own. We ended in a stalemate, though this allowed an unique opportunity. Quickly twisting my sword, I knocked it out of his magic and held the sword to his throat.
“I win,” I said simply. He just chuckled.
“Didn’t think you would pull that off,” he replied while retrieving his sword. “I think it’s time that I give you your final test.”
Tilting my head, I asked, “Is it really that time already?”
“Yes, it is. Meet me here tomorrow.” I gave a smile as I said goodbye to Golden as I went to the dining room to get something to eat. On the way, I ran into my mom.
“Hello, Sunny,” she greeted, “How was training?”
“Good,” I replied, “Also, tomorrow is my final test, if you can believe it.” She looked at me in surprise.
“It’s that time already?” I gave her a nod, “I wonder what he’s going to do this time.”
“I honestly don’t know, I just have to wait until tomorrow to find out.”
“Mind if I watch?” she asked.
“I don’t mind,” I said with a smile. We continued to the dining room, where we ate before we retired for the night.
“The final test is what now?!” me and my mom asked in shock.
“You have to fight me without a sword,” he replied calmly, “Though you can use any spell at your disposal.” I raised my hoof to my chin in thought.
If it’s any spell, then it may not be as tough as I thought…
Releasing a sigh, I said, “Ok, I’m ready when you are.” I said stepping into the ring. He picked up a iron sword before doing the same.
“Ready…” my mom started, “Fight!”
Golden started off by rushing me, so I rolled off to the right and countered with an uppercut. While he was recovering, I managed to land several hits before me managed to counter with a swipe of his sword. I managed to roll backwards thanks to the fact that I was staggering backward, though not unscaved. That attack left me with a pretty nasty gash along my side, though I wasn’t going to give up just because I got an injury, as I’ve had worse injuries fighting in a rage, against a manticore, no less.
Anyhoof, my next mistake was when I tried to block the sword with my foreleg, causing a deep gash, if you could even call it that at that point. Not letting that deteriorate me, I got into a rhythm of dodging and attacking. Though even somepony as experienced as myself is falling when against an armed opponent without any weapon. The only question is when I’ll fall.
No, I thought to myself, I won’t let that happen!
With that thought, I felt a strange feeling inside of me. I felt power, magic raging to come out. Without even meaning to, I thought of a weapon of pure magic, a weapon that I could use reliably. My thoughts turned to Bound Weaponry. I’ve studied them a bit but could never get them to work. Suddenly, a bright flash covered my vision before I heard a gasp. Looking around in confusion, I saw that all of the spectators were looking at me in shock. Even my opponent was shocked for some reason. I then felt a strange feeling in front of me. When I looked, I was greeted by a shimmering, silver sword floating in midair. I grabbed the sword in my magic and gave it a few test swings.
“This’ll do nicely,” I muttered to myself before turning back to my opponent, who was still staring at me in shock. Using this to my advantage, I swung my sword sideways only for him to snap out of it at the last moment to roll out of the way. After that, it was just a matter of wearing him down enough to defeat him. We traded strikes and jabs, though when me sliced me, I caused us to stalemate again. Smirking, I twisted my sword at an impossible speed, knocking Golden’s sword out in the process. And with a sword pointed at his throat, it was over.
“I win…?” I asked uncertainly.
“I did say any spell was allowed…” I heard him mutter. With a flash, the sword disappeared. However, it didn’t end there. I quickly noticed the shocked expression Golden held.
“W-what is it?” I asked, worried.
“I-it’s….” he stammered, “It’s your cutie mark!” he finally got out. With wide eyes, I looked at my flank to see a blue sword and shield with a silver star in the center. I just stared at my flank in shock before squealing like a school filly.
“I got my cutie mark!” I chanted while prancing around, forgetting what had happened moments before with the sword. After nearly a minute passed, I ran up to Mom and said, “Mom look! I got my cutie mark!” I said with utter happiness.
“Congratulations, Sunny!” Mom said with a smile on her muzzle. I probably would have pranced around in happiness for hours if a guard didn’t come rushing in, panting.
“Your Majesty! I have news from northern Equestria!” she managed though her attempts to get air.
“What is it?” Mom asked with curiosity.
“All I’ll say is that it has returned.”
“Inform Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor immediately,” she said with a gasp, trying to make sure her panic didn’t show through. The guard saluted and left to do what she was told. “Sunny, I want you to head to the infirmary to get those wounds checked out.” I gave a nod as the adrenaline finally faded, leaving me in serious pain.
Later…
“Are you sure you don't want me to go as well?” my aunt asked.
“Yes. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor are already there. Sunny and the others will be joining them soon.” my mom replied.
“The Empire's magic is powerful. It cannot fall again, my sister.”
“She will succeed at her task. And when she does, we'll know that she is that much closer to being ready.” Twilight came rushing into the room, “Trust me, little sister.”
“You wanted to see me? To give me a test? I brought my own quills and plenty of paper to show my work.” Twilight’s parchment unfurled, stopping in front of my mom, “Sorry, sorry!” she quickly apologized
“This is a different kind of test. The Crystal Empire has returned.”
“The Crystal Empire?” Twilight questioned, “I'm sorry, I-I thought I'd studied. Ooh. I don't think there's anything in any of my books th–”
“ There wouldn't be,” Mom interrupted, “Few remember it ever existed at all. Even my knowledge of the Empire is limited. But what I do know is that it contains a powerful magic. One thousand years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night, took over the Crystal Empire. He was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished to the ice of the arctic north. He was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished to the ice of the arctic north.”
“You want me to help protect an entire empire?” she asked.
“It is, as I said, a different kind of test. But one I'm certain you will pass.”
“How do I begin?”
“By joining Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire.”
“My brother is there?”
“He is. And your Ponyville friends, along with Sunny, will join you there as well. I have every confidence you will succeed. And when you do, I'll know you are ready to move on to the next level of your studies.”
“But what if I fail?”
“You won’t.”
“But what if–”
“You won't,” Mom interrupted, “But Twilight, in the end, it must be you and you alone who ultimately assists Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to protect the Empire. Do you understand?”
“Mm-hmm!”
“Then go. There is no time to lose!” Me and Twilight exited the room.
“Hey, girls,” I greeted my friends after we made it outside, “We’ll explain on the way.”
“Congratulations on getting your cutie mark, Sunny!” Twilight said.
“Thank you, Twi,” I blushed at the attention, “But I don’t even know what it means…”
Twilight and I already got our friends up to speed about our task, now all I was doing was telling them how I got my cutie mark. Before we got there, I had Fluttershy help me replace the bandages that were on the left over wounds from the Final Test.
“End of the Line!” the conductor called out just as we finished replacing the bandages. As we filed off the train, he bowed to me with a ‘your highness’ before closing the door.
“Ha! And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves,” Rarity said smugly. Unlike the others, I was wearing the scarf that Rarity made me so long ago, as I finally had a reason to wear it.
“Twilight!” a voice said.
“Shining Armor?”
“Twily! You made it!” then he noticed me, “Oh, and hello, Your Majesty,” he said with a bow. “We'd better get moving. There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark.”
Glupping, Fluttershy asked, “What kind of things?”
“Let's just say the Empire... isn't the only thing that's returned.”
Later…
“Something keeps trying to get in! We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place,” Shining told us.
“But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire! If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected,” Twilight rationalized. Before either she or Shining could continue, a howl was heard in the distance.
“Th-That's one of the things, isn't it?” Fluttershy asked with a gasp.
“Guh. We have to get to the Crystal Empire! Now!” With that, we all started to run towards the empire. Though I summoned what I started to call my Spirit Blade and turned around, with Shining doing the same.
“Looks like we have the same idea,” I commented while getting ready to attack, Shining charging up his horn. Shining shot a beam of magic at Sombra while I charged to attack. Dodging both of our attack, Sombra charged at us while we got ready to counter attack. Getting thrown back, we landed on the other side of the shield.
“Shining, Sunny! Your horns!” Twilight exclaimed. I immediately tried to access my magic only for the crystals on my horn to block it. I looked over and saw that Shining was having an equal amount of trouble.
“Well, this can’t end well in any way,” I said with a sigh. A few minutes later, we reached the castle.
“Cadance!” Twilight called out.
“Ooh.”
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” they say in unison, with a laugh afterwards.
“One of these days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance.” Cadance said with a sigh.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.
“Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra,” Shining told his sister.
“I want to help as well, but Sombra also blocked me from my magic,” I put in, startling Cadance a bit.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were coming as well, Sunny,” Cadance commented, “Anyways, It's alright Shining Armor, I'm fine,” she said before walking away.
“She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade... Well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen,” Shining told us.
“That's why we're here,” Twilight said.
“Why we're all here,” Applejack put in, with the rest of us joining in.
“Well, with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies.”
“Crystal Ponies?! Hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?! Um, ahem. Please continue,” Rarity said with a blush.
“But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the Empire without having to use Cadance's magic.”
“A research paper!” Twilight pipped in, getting a ‘huh’ from Shining, “That must be part of my test – to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!”
Later….
“I didn't know it was an actual relic! The book didn't mention anything about the Crystal Ponies powering the Heart!” Twilight panicked before her eyes went wide, “There was a page missing...How did I not notice?!”
“It's alright, Twilight,” Cadance tried to comfort Twilight.
“Twily…”
And with that, we started to leave in groups to try and keep the Crystal Ponies Spirits up while Twilight tried to find the Crystal Heart. It was only a half-hour before the barrier fell. Picking up a spear, I started to charge Sombra so try and slow him down, even though I was lacking access to my magic. I fought him for what seemed like hours before I heard somepony yell.
“I got the Crystal Heart!” I heard Spike yell. When I noticed Sombra trying to reach him, I got in his way.
“I don’t think so.” Suddenly, I felt a huge pain going through my body before I was lifted up into the air, dropping the spear in the process. I was being held close to Sombra while I was trying to escape.
“Sunny!” I heard a voice yell. Just as I felt like I was going to die, a bright flash of silver covered me before I blacked out.
Five Minutes Earlier…
I was watching the fight, making sure Sunny didn’t fall. However, I noticed Sombra lift her into the air while she cried out in pain. Seeing this caused me to charge up a time spell to send her back in time so she could be safe. When the spell hit her, it left a very confused Sombra. I quickly jumped in front of him before calling my Spirit Companions. I also pulled out my Spiritsteel sword
“Sombra!” I yelled out. Even with my cloak on, he seemed to recognize my voice.
“You….” he said.
“Yes, me.” With a swift motion, I sliced him with my sword while my Spirit Wolves attacked him. The fight went on for a few minutes before I felt a huge amount of power coming towards us. He seemed to panic while I just smirked, knowing the heart won’t affect me. In a flash of light, Sombra was defeated. I sent my Wolves back to the spirit realm while putting up my sword. I was quickly tackled by a cyan blur.
“Who are you? And what have you done with Sunny?” said the pony who I recognized as Rainbow said. Not even answering, I kicked her off of me before holding her in place with my magic.
“How about we wait until your friends get here,” I said simply, though I had a hard time not saying our friends. A few minutes later, I was joined by the rest of our friends. “Twilight, mind if you hold Rainbow so she doesn’t try and tackle me again?” I asked. Her jaw dropped.
“H-how do you know my name…?” she managed. With a laugh, I pulled down my hood which resulted in multiple gasps.
“Hi girls, it’s nice to be able to talk to you for the first time in a few millenia…” I started before I was tackled by six ponies. “Geez, I was only gone for five minutes….” I joked, knowing that I was gone for much longer than that. A few minutes later, everypony finally got off of me.
“W-what happened, Sunny?” Twilight asked.
“I think it’s best that I tell when everypony is present, as there is somepony who I’ve haven’t seen since my aunt was banished,” I said with a smile, “Come on, let’s go back to Canterlot and let my mom know that I’m ok.”
The train ride back was long, five hours in fact. During that time, I caught up with my friends. I even showed them my new sword. After another half hour, we arrived back in Canterlot, my first time in a long time. We were greeted by Mom, though, thankfully, I’ve put back up my hood. When she noticed me, she raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“I knew you could do it,” Mom said simply.
“Yes, but it wasn’t me that got the Crystal Heart to Cadance. However, not all of us made it back,” Twilight said in a depressed tone. Mom must of finally noticed that I wasn’t there.
“W-where’s Sunny?” Mom asked, near tears.
“Sombra got to her,” Twilight hung her head. I knew it was all just an act, but I hoped Applejack didn’t drop the charade.
“My only regret was the fact that I didn’t get there in time,” I said in an equally depressed tone. Mom suddenly looked at me with surprise.
“Come, we’ll continue this in a more suitable location.” Me and Twilight looked at each other before following. After a few minutes, we entered the gardens.
“Please, tell me everything that happened,” Mom said. While I sat there, my friends told her what happened “I...I still can’t believe she’s gone,” Mom said while tears flowed down her face.
“That….isn’t entirely true,” I said with a cough. Mom looked at me as I lowered my hood.
“S-sunny?” Mom asked with a gasp.
“Yes mom. It’s me.” We embraced each other for a good ten seconds. “I guess everypony wants to know what happened?” I asked, to which I got several nods. “Mom, think you can help me out with the parts that I don’t remember?” I asked, getting a smile in return. I smiled as I got ready to tell what happened.
I was awoken to the sounds of birds and running water, maybe a river? Anyhoof, I opened my eyes only to immediately close them because of the blindingly bright sunlight. I tried to open them again with better success. I then tried to get up only for pain to flare up all four of my legs, causing me to cry out in pain.
Maybe the bones in my legs are broken…? I mused through my pain. I tried to use my magic to make some makeshift splints for my legs only for nothing to happen. A few attempts later I remembered the dark crystals on my horn blocking my magic.
Great.... I thought bitterly. My line of thoughts were interrupted when I heard a branch snap off to my right. I swiveled my head in the direction of the sound to see a much larger white alicorn with a pink mane and tail. I immediately tried to get away only to be picked up and held close to the young alicorn. To my surprise, she started to rock me!
“It’s ok, little one,” she said in a soothing tone that vanquished my fears, which caused me to slowly stop struggling, “I won’t hurt you.” When she said this, a memory resurfaced, this mare reminded me of Mom quite a bit, when I first met her, before she adopted me. As she continued to rock me, I found it harder and harder to stay awake. I snuggled closer to her during this time, a feeling of safety and warmth washing over me. Only a few minutes passed before I started to drift off as “mom” forced it’s way out of my mouth. The last thing I remember seeing is the mare’s warm smile looking down at me.
“Mom, is she going to be ok?” my younger sister, Luna, asked as we watched Mom work with the filly. Said filly had several bandages on her body and had several broken bones, mainly the legs. Mom had already changed each of the bandages already and was now making a brew to help her get her strength back once she woke up.
“We did all we could for her, all we can do now is wait,” Mom replied before turning to me, “Celestia, can you get the yellow medical herbs please?” I gave her a nod before heading to our storage room. I got the herbs and reentered the room before checking the filly’s temperature. My eyes widen in shock.
“Mom! She’s burning up!” I called out. Mom immediately came over to check for herself. Quickly getting a cloth, she drenched it in cold water before putting it on the filly’s forehead. It was at this time that I noticed the black crystals on her horn.
“Mom, what are those crystals doing on her horn?” I asked. She took a look at the filly’s horn before her expression turned to shock.
“These crystals are pure black magic,” she said in a panic, “Whoever did this really wants her dead.” At this very moment, the filly let out a yawn before her eyes opened.
I don’t know how long I was out for, but when I came back around, I felt a cold sensation on my head while a conversation went on near me.
“Mom, what are those crystals doing on her horn?” the voice that I heard before I passed out asked.
“These crystals are pure black magic,” somepony said in a panic after a few moments, “Whoever did this really wants her dead!”
I tried to stay as still as possible so they didn’t know I was awake, but my body betrayed me by yawning. Having no choice, I opened my eyes to see the sight of not one but three alicorns: one dark green with a large, light green mane and tail with a flower cutie mark, the alicorn that found me before I fell asleep, and a small, dark blue alicorn, most likely the youngest, with a light blue mane and tail. The latter looked familiar, but couldn’t put my hoof on it. I then noticed the fact that all three of them are larger than me, this led me to the conclusion that I was a foal, again.
“Hello, little one,” the green alicorn said, but before she could continue, I felt my fight or flight instincts activate as I tried to get away from her, fear in my eyes.
“Mom. Let me try,” the white alicorn said. I started to relax when she took a step forward. There was something about her that made me feel safe. Letting my instincts guide me, I gave her a nuzzle when she got close enough, surprising her in the process before giving me a smile.
“What is your name, little one?” she asked, causing me to tense up.
“S-sunny Days,” I managed to get out while I looked up at her, trying to play the part of the young foal that they saw me as. She must of noticed my tensed state because she gave me a nuzzle before laying down next to me, allowing me to snuggle up next to her. After I snuggled up next to her, I started to feel that odd feeling of safety and warmth again, as if I was her daughter. I released another yawn while lying my head on her forelegs. I started to hear singing that I recognized as the lullaby that Mom always gave me when I couldn’t sleep. If fact, it was the exact lullaby she would sing me. As the song went on, I felt my eyes get heavier and heavier. I released another yawn before my eyes closed on their own accord, effectively putting me to sleep.
After the young filly fell asleep, I took a look at my mom and asked her a silent question.
Can we keep her?
She thought about it for a few moments before giving me an answer, “Sure, but she’ll be your responsibility, ok?” I nodded vigorously at her response, glad that we weren’t going to leave her out in the cold in her injured state. “And besides, it looks like she taken a liking to you.” I just responded to that by nuzzling Sunny. Releasing a yawn myself, I rested my head on the bed as my eyes started to close, but not before I put a leg and a wing over Sunny, pulling her into a hug.
A movement against my side woke me up. Opening my eyes, I looked at the young filly against my side. By the looks of it, she had buried her head deeper into my coat. I had to resist the urge to nuzzle her, as that would most likely wake her. Though that changed pretty quickly when I heard her yawn before she mumbled, “Five more minutes, mom.”
I smiled at what she called me. I knew Sunny was smarter than an average filly, but I didn’t care. No longer able to resist the urge, I lifted up a wing, using the tip to tickle her barrel. As I started to tickle her, she started to stir and it wasn’t long before she was giggling uncontrollably, trying everything in her power to stop my ticklish onslaught. Even after I was done, she continued to giggle for five minutes afterwards. When she finally stopped giggling, I heard a grumble coming from Sunny. I looked at her as she looked away, trying not to look embarrassed.
Giggling a bit, I said, “Come on, little one, let’s get you something to eat.” Picking her up with my magic, I deposited her on my back before heading to the kitchen to prepare a bottle of warm milk for her. I prepared the milk, bottled it, then warmed it over a fire. Sunny just watched me with a look of curiosity as I prepared the milk for her. When it was finally done, I returned to our room before depositing Sunny on the bed before laying down myself. Using my magic, I moved the end of the bottle to her mouth, where she reluctantly took the end before starting to suckle on it.
We sat there for maybe ten minutes before she finished off the bottle. I congratulated her for finishing it off before she released a yawn, the warm milk making her tired.
“Goodnight, my little filly,” I whispered with a nuzzle as she fell asleep snuggled up against my side.
The next morning, I repeated the process for feeding her, though this time she didn’t fall asleep, so I played with her until she did. Later that night, when she awoke again, I fed her once more, with her falling asleep shortly after finishing off the milk. I repeated the process for a few years, just until she was able to keep solid food down (the first time we tried to give her solid food was a complete disaster). Any free time I had (usually when Sunny was asleep) went to figuring out how to get rid of the crystals on Sunny’s horn, with little to no success. Even so, after years of research, I think I finally got the solution.
“Mom,” I called out, “I think I figured out a way to get rid of the crystals on Sunny’s horn.” She looked at me, surprised.
“And how would we go about that…?” she asked.
“Well, I found out that the crystals absorb magic, so all we need to do is overload them.” Mom raised a hoof to her chin in thought.
“That….could work,” she admitted. With that, I went to get Sunny, who was still sleeping. Carefully picking her up so she wouldn’t wake, I moved her to my back before heading back to the living room. I gently deposited her on the ground in the center of the room before stepping back, lighting up my horn in the process. I looked around at my family, Luna on my right while Mom was on my left. We all charged our horns before pouring magic into Sunny’s. After about five tense minutes, we heard the sound of shattering. I took a look at Sunny’s horn and found that the crystals were falling apart. After another minute, the all but one patch of crystals were gone. I stopped my own magic as I drained my pool, Luna having done the same. Sunny let loose a yawn before opening her eyes.
I was awoken to the sound of shattering. While I just lay there, trying not to wake the one who took me in and took care of me, the shattering stopped. While I didn’t want to let them know I was awake, I was once again betrayed by my own body as I yawned. I slowly opened my eyes before rubbing them with my hooves to try and clear up my sight. Before it did, though, I was lifted up by a pair of hooves before I was embraced. With my eyesight still clouded, I let my instincts guide me as I returned the hug.
“Tia,” I heard a voice say, “Can we hold her?” When I heard the name, my brain started to work.
There was only one pony who was called ‘Tia’ by her sister, so that must mean….
I gasped internally as I realized that the one who nurtured me back to health was my own adoptive mother. That was why I felt the way I did when she first found me. But one question remained, why did she look the way she did?
“Sure, Luna,” my caretaker replied as my eyesight cleared up. I felt Luna shift into a sitting form as she started to rock me.
No! I just woke up! I protested mentally as I released a yawn. My eyes got heavier and heavier with each and every motion, the relaxing rocking making me tired. It didn’t take as long as it did the first time as my eyes closed on their own, forcing me into slumber.
I don’t know how long pass since I fell asleep, but when I woke up again, I felt the wind in my fur, like I was moving. Opening my eyes, I noticed that my caretaker, Luna, and the third alicorn were running for their lives. Then I heard my caretaker cry out in pain, causing her to drop me onto the ground. When this happened, anger flared up through my body. I was not going to allow anything hurt the ones who helped me in my moment of weakness. I ended up doing something I swore never to do, I drew energy from the Spirit Realm. With one last shatter, I felt the last of the crystals on my horn shatter into pieces. Getting up, I summoned my Spirit Blade as I charged the attacker.
When I finally got a look at my target, my muscles locked up as fear overtook me. My blade disappeared in a flash of light. I just sat there as the manticore moved towards me. Just as the manticore raised it paw to swipe me, a green blur pushed me out of the way as she took the blow. Seeing this caused my anger to rise again, allowing me to overcome my fear. I once again summoned my Spirit Blade and charged the manticore, not caring about the fact that it’s much larger than I am. Just as it was about to swipe it’s paw, I rolled out of the way while swiping my sword. Now behind it, I jabbed the sword into it’s back, piercing it’s heart. I withdrew my sword before it disappeared in a flash of silver. I turned back to the dying body of my caretaker’s mother.
“Mom, please,” Luna cried, “Don’t die!” The green alicorn managed to place a hoof on Luna’s shoulder.
“Celestia, Luna, please...don’t let my death...hold you back,” she managed, “I know...you’ll live to do...great things.” She coughed a few times before she set her sights on me, “I also know...that Sunny is...much stronger than she let on. Keep....her safe.” With that, she stopped breathing. I continued to play the act of a young foal by crying into my caretaker’s (Tia, I amended) coat, Luna doing the same.
I was trying to comfort both Sunny and my sister, both of them crying, with Sunny crying the heaviest of them both. I don’t know how long we sat there for, but I knew we had to get moving if we were going to make sure to honor Mom’s final request: protecting Sunny.
“Luna, come on, Mom wouldn’t want us to grief over her,” I told my sister while picking up Sunny, who had cried herself to sleep. I would have continued, but I was interrupted by a manticore roar. “Luna! Come on!” I yelled at my sister while starting to gallop away from Mom’s body with Luna not far behind. “Luna! Get your wings ready!” I yelled while unfurling my wings. Just as I remembered, we came to a cliff where I jumped off and started to flap my wings, Luna doing the same. I heard the manicore roar in frustration at it’s prey that just escaped. I looked down at Sunny and saw tear stains on her face from her heavy crying.
“Don’t worry, Sunny,” I whispered with determination, trying not to wake her up, “I’ll make sure you’ll be ok. I’ll treat you with kindness that could only be rivaled by your own mother. I’ll treat you as if you were one of my own. Welcome to the family, Sunny.” With that, Luna and I went to try and find a new place to call home.
As I was walking, I came upon my usual training spot, the spot that I would come to to practice my magic without worry of being interrupted. Even since my mom’s mother died, I’ve been becoming more and more...isolated from Mom and aunt Luna, even going as far as eating less frequently just to be alone. I’ll admit that I felt...guilty for not being able to save her, as it was my fault that she’s dead. If I was able to actually overcome my fear of manticores, then she would still be alive. It’s my fault that she’s dead, and nothing I do will change that fact. It even got to the point that I started to have nightmares about that day, a constant reminder of my failure.
Anyhoof, I summoned my Spirit Blade and practiced using it, as it has been years since used it. I did some jabs and slices, fifty time each to get a feel for it.
“SUNNY!” I heard Mom call out, causing my eyes to go wide. I’ve been so intune with what I was doing that I lost track of time. I quickly disbanded my sword before turning around. Just as I got ready to gallop back, I saw Mom come from the bushes while looking around. When she spotted me, she quickly galloped over to me before scooping me up.
“There you are,” she said in a motherly voice, a voice that she started to use when talking to me.
“It’s my fault,” I muttered, causing Mom’s ears to perk up.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“It’s my fault,” I said a little louder, tears starting to cloud my vision.
“Sunny, I’m sure it wasn’t….”
“IT’S. MY. FAULT!” I yelled this time, tears flowing down my face while Mom just stood there, shocked at the tone I used.
“Sunny,” Mom said in a stern yet motherly tone, causing me to look up, “It isn’t your fault. Nothing you could have done would have changed the outcome.” With that, she left a kiss on my forehead, right under my horn, causing me to finally break as I weeped into Mom’s coat. I was also faintly aware Mom gently rocking me in an attempt to calm me down. As time went on, my crying slowly turned into involuntary sniffles, which was shortly followed by my eyes closing on their own. The last thing I remember seeing was Mom’s warm smile, a smile that made me feel safe.
Only a few short weeks later, I was back to practicing my magic. I still haven’t recovered from the death of Mom’s mother. Even so, it caused me to train harder and harder to the point that I’m collapsing from exhaustion. I didn’t even care if I got caught anymore, so there I was, summoning my sword to expand my mana pool. Then I went back to practicing using my bound weapon.
“Sunny?” I heard Mom’s voice say. I just released a sigh and continued what I was doing, not even bothering to turn around.
“Mom,” I said simply.
“What are you doing?”
“Expanding my mana pool and refreshing myself on some skills,” I said without missing a beat. Mom was silent as I used my sword to cut down a tree. Before we could continue our conversation, I heard the faint sound of a branch snapping off to my right, causing me to stop.
“What-”
“Quiet,” I whispered, trying to get my bearings of what we are against. A few seconds later, I heard another snap behind us. I whirled around only to see nothing. I lowered my sword as I heard another snap off to my left. When I turned, though, I saw what looked like a dark grey pony that seemed see through. I raised my sword as I got ready to hold it back when it attacked. All it did, however, was stand there. I tilted my head in confusion as I lowered my sword slightly, wondering why the thing in front of me wasn’t attacking. Just then, I heard multiple branches snap around me.
It was a trap.
“Mom, no...sudden...movements,” I said slowly as I eyed the things around us, “When I say go, run back and get Luna.” Then the inevitable happened: they attacked. As soon as they moved, I moved and started to attack while saying, “Now!” After Mom left, I swung my sword at one of the things only for it to go straight through it without harming it.
Buck.
I spread my wings to fly out of dodge only for a dark aura to surround my body, preventing me from moving. Even though I didn’t feel any pain, I knew I was dying if the black tunnel that was forming in my vision was anything to go by. I also knew that the longer I was in that aura, the weaker I would get. Just as the tunnel was about to close, I was dropped onto the ground as the tunnel, albeit very slowly, opened back up, though my vision was still blurred. As I lay there, I was faintly aware of the sounds of fighting going on around me.
“Are you ok, little one?” a male voice asked after the sounds of fighting stopped. I tried to nod even though I didn’t have the strength to do so, “On second thought, don’t move. You need all the strength you can get.” I felt the unknown male lay a hoof on my barrel just before I started to feel reenergized. After about a minute, I was strong enough to get off of the ground and my vision clear enough to see clearly. I took a look around and noticed two ponies, a dark green coated unicorn with a light green mane and tail and a cyan pegasus with a two tone blue mane and tail.
“T-thank you,” I managed, still feeling a little weak.
“Don’t mention it,” the pegasus said with a smile.
“W-what were those things…?”
“Shades, the opposite and predator of Spirits and those who can control Spirit energy,” the unicorn explained, “They can also, for some reason, only be harmed by Spirit energy or Spiritsteel.” He raised his sword to show me what Spiritsteel was. Before I could ask more about it, a massive headache made itself known.
“You need your rest if you’re going to fully recover,” the pegasus told me. I was about to protest as I saw the unicorn’s horn light up in a silver glow as I started to grow tired. Resistance was futile as my eyes closed on their own, forcing me into a deep sleep.
“Apricis diebus,” a motherly voice said, “It’s time to get up, young one.” I released a yawn as I open my eyes to find myself in a crib, a tan alicorn mare with a flowing silver mane and tail looking down at me fondly. As I looked at her, I couldn’t help but feel happy, something about her told me she was there to protect and care for me. The tender moment was interrupted when I heard a growl, which caused the mare to giggle a bit as I looked away, embarrassed.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” she told me with a smile. I couldn’t help but smile back. I saw myself light up in a silver glow, a glow that was matched by her horn, as I was lifted out of the crib and onto the mare’s back. We left what I realized was a nursery and started to move down the hall, the occasional servant bowing to us.
“Good morning, Queen Giea,” a voice behind us said, allowing me to place a name on my caretaker, “And good morning to you, young princess,” the gray stallion added when he saw me.
“Good morning to you, Strong Hoof,” Giea greeted while I just waved, causing the stallion to wave back with a smile.
“May I ask what you are doing at this fine hour?” he asked as he trotted next to us.
“I’m getting my young one something to eat,” Giea responded while I was left to wonder what she meant by ‘my young one’. As I was lost in thought, I didn’t realize we entered what seemed like a dinning room. I managed to get out of my thoughts as I was strapped into a high chair. I sat there for maybe five minutes before a servant with a salad and a foal bottle filled with what I assumed was warm milk entered the room. I was given the bottle while Giea was given the salad. I carefully took the end of the bottle and started to nurse from it, finishing it off about ten minutes later. I released a yawn as I was unstrapped from the high chair before I was lifted up and deposited back onto Giea’s back. I started to drift off as we made our way back to the nursery. The last thing I remembered was being tucked into my crib as Giea said, “Pleasent dreams, Apricis Diebus.”