The sun was out.

That was a good thing. He didn't know why, but whenever Sunny looked up to see the sun beaming down at him, he knew the day was going to be good.

Of course...the only reason the sun was out was because the pegasus had decided on nice weather for today. He wondered what that would be like, soaring through the air, able to control all of the clouds and weather. He'd have to ask Rainbow Dash the next time he saw her.

But that was enough thinking for now, he had to get to one of his most favorite places in Ponyville, Sugar Cube Corner. It was one of the first places he'd been to in Ponyville, it was where Pinkie had thrown him his first party.

Well, maybe 'party' was too big of a word. It had only been him and the six other ponies. Pinkie had thrown out a few streamers and balloons and put out a small plate of cupcakes for him, it had barely lasted an hour.

He didn't care though, it had been fun, bright and cheerful. It felt right, like it was something he put off for a long time, too long. Plus, it was with Pinkie, and he could never stop himself from wearing a silly smile whenever she was around. It actually embarrassed him a little bit.

And now, whenever Pinkie invited him over to the sweets shop it was to teach him something new about having fun. One day had been on the best way to give hugs, another had been on making cupcakes, which had been his favorite so far. He hadn't been successful at all in following the recipe, but Pinkie had plenty of her own cupcakes left over for him.

Pinkie Pie...she was one of his favorite ponies to be with, but there was always...something about her. She was as nice he could be, all smiles while making sure he had a good time too, but he always got the feeling that she was watching him. Watching...and waiting. It was like she constantly expected something from him, but he had no idea what...

Or maybe he was just overthinking things, that was something he did a lot. Other ponies confused him, he wanted to understand them, but he really didn't know how. He tried doing what he thought Twilight would do, analyze all the available information. He would try to work them out from their words and actions, and while that would give a few pieces of information, he always felt that he was missing something.

Then there were the times his thoughts would go on journeys of their own. When Ms. Cheerilee would start talking about history, sometimes a name would grab his attention. He didn't know why, but he would start to think about that name. Who were they? What had they done? What had life been like for them? As those question went through his mind...he would suddenly know the answers! Information would flood his head, their history, their family, exactly what they had done. It was almost too much to bear, and if he wasn't careful he would end up blurting out random facts. Luckily, if he was able to keep control long enough, the thoughts would leave his head, draining out and leaving only a few brief recollections.

With all that, and his nightmares, Sunny was surprised he could pay attention at all in school.

"Excuse me," a voice shocked Sunny out of his musings. He'd been so caught up in himself he'd almost run into another pony.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he quickly apologized, shaking his head and continuing down the street. He really needed to pay more attention, just like Pinkie had told him before their first lesson. A 'precaution' against living with Twilight.

"Less thinking, more fun!"

"Hello?" Sunny asked, gingerly stepping into Sugarcube Corner.

"Oh hello Sunny," Mr. Cake greeted from the front counter. Sunny like the Cakes, no matter how bogged down they were with orders or the twins they would always find time to give him a kind word or two. "Does Pinkie Pie have another of her lessons for you today?"

"Yes, she said today's going to be about pranks," Mr. Cake's eyes widened slightly.

"Well okay...but can you promise to to keep the lesson outside of the store? Mrs. Cake just put the twins down for their afternoon nap, which means that she just laid down for a nap too," he asked.

"I promise," Sunny agreed. The last thing he wanted would be to upset them.

"Good, I'll go get Pinkie for you then," Mr. Cake headed upstairs. "Oh Pinkie, Sunny's waiting for you downstairs." He called softly into the hallway. In a second Pinkie had rushed down the stairs, though without her usual extravagance. Even she knew that interrupting the twins nap would be a bad decision.

"C'mon Sunny, let's get started!" Sunny was only able to get in a quick nod before she dragged him outside. Eagerly, he followed as she led him outside to a small field where she sat him down and struck an imposing stance in front of him.

"Now, I'm sure you remember the basics of pranking from earlier. Do you have any questions?" she asked in a manner eerily reminding him of Ms. Cheerilee.

"Well...earlier you said it was important that nopony got hurt. How do you know which ponies will get hurt? Who are the right ponies to prank?" Pinkie rubbed her chin, thoughtful.

"Hmm...well try to go for the tough ponies, like Rainbow Dash or Applejack. They're some of the toughest ponies I know! A bad choice would be Fluttershy or maybe Lilly. They might take it too seriously, and if that happened that it's just not fun anymore, for us or them," Pinkie explained. She obviously relished being a teacher.

"Why is it so important that the prank's fun for them too?" Sunny asked.

"Because it has to be! You don't do pranks just for yourself, you do them for the other ponies!" she motioned for Sunny to follow her. "That's why today, we're going to Sweet Apple Acres." She walked off again, Sunny quickly following.

"Did you know that I used to live on a farm? It was a big rock farm where I worked by my mom, dad, and sister. It was really tough work that got super boring sometimes," Pinkie said, seemingly at random. "I bet that harvesting apples is more fun than getting rocks, but Applejack spends so much of her time working, she needs to take a break and have some fun! She'd never admit it, but that's why she's got Pinkie pie!"

"So, we're going to prank Applejack?" he guess.

"You got it! And you're an integral part of the plan!" Pinkie's silly grin grew wider.

"Hello Applejack," he said, walking up to the orange earth pony. It looked like she had just finished a long day of harvesting apples, several carts were filled to the brim behind her with the ripe fruit. Applejack paused as she noticed him.

"Well hey there little guy, what brings you 'round these parts?" she asked. "Did Apple Bloom invite you down here?" This would be his first time visiting Sweet Apple Acres, but Pinkie had made sure he would have a suitable explanation.

"No, me and Apple Bloom don't really talk much at school," he admitted, but that wasn't part of the explanation. He needed to stick to plan, he would hate if he disappointed Pinkie by ruining the prank. "I just thought it would be nice to see you, Pinkie's always saying that I can't spend all my time in the library." He did like seeing Applejack, she never seemed to hide anything from anypony. But sometimes he wondered if that just meant she was better at hiding things than everypony else.

"That's a good lesson to learn. I'm all fer sitting down with a good book now and again, but there's nothing that can match goin' out to experience the world first hoof," Applejack nodded. "You fittin' into life in Ponyville all right so far?" She started forward again towards the barn. That was fine, as long as she kept her attention on him.

"It's...okay," he replied. "School has been good so far, but I haven't really made any friends yet."

"No friends? Well that's no good, every little colt and filly should have some friends. You especially," he wondered what Applejack meant by that last comment, but a loud rumble from his stomach interrupted his thoughts.

"Sounds like another thing yah need is a snack," Apple observed with a laugh. "Here, why don't you help yourself to an...apple?" As she turned to grab one of the fruits she was greeted by a view of her carts filled, not with apples, but with pears.

"Wha...buh...how'd yah," Applejack could only stammer. With a giggle, Pinkie burst out of the leaves of a nearby apple tree, hanging upside-down as she chewed triumphantly on an apple.

"Got'cha!" Pinkie declared before descending into another fit of laughter. Face with such a silly sight, Applejack couldn't help but join in. Sunny found himself laughing too. Pinkie had been right, a good prank brought fun to everypony.

"You know, one day I'm gonna get yah back for all these pranks Pinkie," Applejack said once she had control over her laughter. "Or at least find out how you manage to pull them off so quickly."

"Ooh! That would be great! If you did than you'd be the best pranker in Ponyville!" Pinkie replied, dropping out of the tree. "Sometimes I'm not sure how I can do all these pranks."

"Well do yah at least know what happened to my apples?" Applejack asked.

"Where else? I put them in the trees!" Pinkie shook the tree she just jumped out of and a cascade of apples rained down, quickly filling up the empty baskets below it.

"Of course yah did," Applejack sighed, though the smile remained on her face. "Well how 'bout you help bring those, and these pears, to the barn? You mind giving us some help Sunny?"

"Sure!" Sunny agreed, going over to one of the buckets and grabbing the handle with his mouth. He hoisted the bucket up, nearly stumbling from the weight, but he managed to right himself. Together, they all set off for the barn, Pinkie happily hopping in front of them, somehow managing to balance the two baskets on her side and a third one on top of her head.

Stepping inside the large barn they gently set down the gathered fruit. Applejack looked like she was about to thank them when a fourth pony rushed in.

"Applejack, Applejack! Quick, ah need a map, some snacks, an' twenty feet of rope. No time for questions!" Sunny recognized her from school. Her coat, mane, and accent were unmistakeable. She had to be Apple Bloom.

"Woah there, anything you don't want me to know about is probably gonna lead to a heap of trouble," Applejack replied, raising one of her eyebrows at her sister. "Is this another of your crusading adventures?"

"What? No..." Applejack continued to stare down at her little sister. "Well...not yet. We're just planning out our next idea fer our cutie marks. Scootaloo said we should try being Cutie Mark Crusader Explorers, and she said that one thing every adventurer needs is lots'a rope." She admitted.

"And where exactly where yah planning to go exploring?" Applejack continued.

"The...Everfree Forest. But we were gonna be super careful about it, an' we were gonna talk to Zecora first so we knew the safest places to go," Apple Bloom's eyes slid away from her sister and landed on Sunny. "Hey, I know you! You're that new pony from school!"

Sunny guessed Apple Bloom was glad there was a reason to change topics and distract her older sister.

"Oh, you know him! That's great!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "You just missed a great prank you know! You should've seen it, he helped me replace all of your sister's apples with pears, it was the best!"

"Yeah, it was a good one. But..." Applejack paused for a moment, thinking. "How about you bring him along to your clubhouse? I think it'd be mighty swell for him to meet Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and maybe he could talk some sense into y'all about this silly adventure of yours." Applejack was not so easily distracted.

"Well...okay," the filly agreed. "But can I at least get some rope?"

"Fine, but I want all of this rope back y'hear?" Applejack grabbed a coil off a nail and threw it at her sister, easily settling around her neck.

"Thanks sis!" Apple Bloom turned back to him. "C'mon Sunny, the others are waiting at the clubhouse." She happily trotted outside and with one wary look back at Pinkie, followed after.

"Bye Sunny! Have fun and don't cause too much trouble," Pinkie waved after him.

"Now why'd yah have to go and say that Pinkie? Haven't you ever heard of jinxes?" he heard Applejack ask.

"Of course! You don't want the day to be boring do you?" Pinkie Pie's reply was the last thing he heard before he and Apple Bloom stepped into the thick groves of apple trees.

"So...yer living with Twilight and Spike in the library aren't you?" Apple Bloom asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Yup," he answered.

"Is that how you know all those fancy history facts? I think even Ms. Cheerilee was surprised you knew so much," he was surprised she had even noticed.

"Something like that," Sunny replied, thought he wished he could think of something more to say.

"Do you know my brother Big Mac? You kinda talk like him," Apple Bloom observed. Sunny wasn't sure how he was meant to reply to that. Twilight had said the easiest way to make friends was to talk to other ponies. well he was finally talking to one, and he had no idea what to say!

"What are the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" he blurted out, recalling what Apple Bloom had said earlier.

"Oh! Well the Crusaders are a group of me, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. We're on a quest to discover our special talents an' get out cutie marks," she explained, obviously proud of their group. "We've tried almost everything to find our special talent, so we have to be gettin' close. Do you have any idea about what your special talent might be?"

His special talent...he'd never wondered about that before. Of course, maybe his special talent was just thinking...but he had no idea what that cutie mark would look like. He shook his head no.

"Have you even been to the Everfree Forest before?" he asked.

"Just once. We were chasing after one of Fluttershy's chickens and ran right into a cockatrice! Luckily Fluttershy was there to save us. That's why we only go straight to Zecora's now if we ever enter the forest, it's the safest route," Apple Bloom said.

"Wow..." Sunny said with wonder. What would it be like to go into the Everfree Forest? He knew a little about it, mostly through warnings from Twilight and her friends to never go in there. The Cutie Mark crusaders must be the bravest ponies in Ponyville!

"Um...who's Zecora?" he asked after another moment of silence. "I didn't know a pony lived in the forest."

"Well that's cause she's a zebra silly," Apple Bloom laughed. "She knows all kinds of mystic stuff, stuff even Twilight doesn't know about. She gathers a lot of herbs for her potions from the forest, that's why she live there. But I think she sometimes gets lonely out there, so I try to go visit her whenever I can."

And they knew a zebra? Sunny wondered just what else the Cutie Mark Crusaders had accomplished. The more he learned, the more amazing they sounded.

"An' right here's the clubhouse," Apple Bloom announced, pointing towards a clubhouse built into into a massive apple tree. She headed up the walkway towards the front door, boldly stepping inside. "I'm back, and I got the rope."

"I still don't know why we need so much rope," a lighter voice replied. Sunny still stood outside, unsure about following Apple Bloom inside. What would Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle think of him, what if they didn't like him?

"Ugh, haven't you read any of the Daring Do books?" an annoyed, slightly gruffer voice answered. "What if we find a maze and don't want to get lost, or a big hole in the ground we need to go down, or a cliff to repel down? Or what if a big nasty monster attacks us and we need to capture it? Rope! The answer is always rope!"

"Okay Scootaloo, we get it," Apple Bloom tried to calm the loud filly down. "We're lucky I was able to get any rope. If Sunny hadn't been there ah..." Apple Bloom stuck her head out the door and saw Sunny waiting outside.

"Well what're you doing out there? C'mon inside!" she called. Sunny quickly walking inside, keeping his head low. "Everypony, this is Sunny. Applejack said we should try to bring him along."

"Really? Well it's nice to meet you! I'm Sweetie Belle," the white unicorn filly greeted with a wave and smile.

"Woah woah woah," a young pegasus mare interrupted, getting right into Sunny's face. Probably Scootaloo, the back of his mind guessed as he tried to figure how he was supposed to respond. "When did we start taking in new members into our group? How do we even know he's Crusader material?"

"Well, he doesn't have a cutie mark," Sweetie Belle pointed out.

"I mean what else? Like for when we go into the Everfree Forest, do you know anything about adventuring or exploring?" Scootaloo questioned. Sunny found himself taking a few steps backwards.

"Um, Scootaloo? We don't know that much about adventuring or exploring either," Apple Bloom said. Sunny was happy to hear her trying to support him.

"Well...yeah. But that's why we need all the help we can get," Scootaloo replied, backing off a little from Sunny.

"Actually, Sunny lives with Twilight in the library. He might know some things about the forest or the creatures that live there," Apple Bloom said.

"That's great! What do you know about forest? Do you know the best way to fight off timber wolves or manticores?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Do you anything about its history?"

History...that was word that made him think. Before he had a chance to control himself, he had already started talking.

"It is home to the ruins of the castle of the royal pony sisters, where the Elements of Harmony were used to banish Nightmare Moon, and then to purify and return her to Princess Luna a thousand years later," the Elements...those were important to him, but he wasn't sure why. "Ponies once lived in the forest in small villages. The woods have been out of control of the weather ponies for even longer. Ever since...ever since." The information just...stopped and his mouth closed, leaving him standing awkwardly before the three fillies.

"See?" Apple Bloom finally spoke. "Sunny knows lots'a stuff."

"Well that's obvious," agreed Scootaloo. "How'd you even manage to memorize all of that stuff? I can barely pay attention once Ms. Cheerilee starts talking about history."

"So...can he be a Crusader?" Sweetie Belle asked hesitantly.

"Hmm...okay. Welcome aboard Sunny, you're an honorary Crusader," Scootaloo held out a hoof. Sunny stared for a moment before he realized he was supposed to shake it. Quickly, he complied.

"Well now that that's out of the way, are we gonna plan out any more of our adventure tomorrow?" Apple Bloom said.

"Aww come on, we already spent so much time on that. We've got the rope, and once we see Zecora tomorrow we'll have everything we need. Let's take a break and do something fun!" Scootaloo replied.

"Yeah! How about we play with that new ball Twilight got for us?" Sweeite Belle offered.

"That sounds like fun!" Apple Bloom agreed. "C'mon Scootaloo, c'mon Sunny." She called before heading outside. Scootaloo quickly followed with Sunny close behind. He wondered what kind of game they would play, and if he would be any good at it. What if he messed up and broke their ball? What if he...

"Less thinking, more fun!" Pinkie's voice yelled in his mind. He needed to remember that, had to remember that. Shaking his head, he followed after his new friends.

"Twilight? I'm back," he called as he opened the door to the library.

"Sunny, you're home late," Twilight was waiting for him in the entryway, a large book open next to her, as always. "Did you lose track of time with your new friends?" She was right, time had passed so much more quickly than he'd expected. By the time he and the crusaders had realized how long it had been, the sun had almost dropped below the horizon.

"Sorry Twilight," he apologized, hoping she wasn't disappointed at him.

"Oh, I'm not upset Sunny, it's just something you need to be aware of next time. If you lose track of time too much all your schedules are ruined!" she told him, but Sunny really didn't know what she was talking about. "Well...I guess you don't have to worry about those things yet. How about you head upstairs and get some sleep? I already moved your bed up there earlier today."

"Really? Thanks Twilight!" he had almost forgotten about that promise, but the chance for a night with no nightmares would be the perfect way to end the day. He trotted over to the bedrooms area, closing the door behind him and walking up the stairs. He saw that his bed was nestled next to Twilight's.

A great yawn escape from his mouth, he really was tired, but there was one thing he had to do before he went to sleep. He stuck a hoof under his pillow and pulled out what was hidden underneath, a small blue stone. He had asked Twilight to enchant it and a soft light now emanated from it.

It was his night light, and even with his eyes closed he could feel its light. He didn't like the dark...the dark was lonely...

He crawled into his bed, keeping a tight grip on his stone. His heavy eyelids closed.

He hated being lonely...it scared him.

He didn't want to be lonely...

Not again....