Of Metaphysics and Metafiction; A Study in Sunshine

The screen flickers to life. The black quickly gives way to the colors and light that depict a colorful and cartoonish world. From the right, an equine head moves into view. The head and, by extension, the owner is yellow and furred. A straight jaw and square face divulge the individual's sex as male. His hair, a saturated shade of purple, is matted around his horn. Lightly, he taps the screen with a hoof.

Stepping back from the large panel, Sunshine turned to Twilight. "Are you sure that it's turned off?"

Twilight nodded her head. "Yes, but I don't know why you're worrying about it. As far as I can tell, it's just a view screen. There isn't anything inherently bad about it." She chuckled a little. "I mean, it's followed me around since before I came to Ponyville. If the humans were going to do anything, they would have by now. Besides, what are they going to do now that I'm a Princess?" Fluffing her wings out a little for emphasis, Twilight smiled and trotted back to the library. "Have fun studying it, though."

Sunshine turned back to the panel, only to see that it had done absolutely nothing during his conversation with Twilight. Looking around it once more, he reached a very solid conclusion.

'I have no idea how this thing works.'

This wasn't the first time Sunshine had reached this conclusion. In fact, he needed to hopelessly attempt at understanding the monolith at least three more times before dawn just to reach his nightly average. But for the moment, he was stumped. Stepping back, he found his mind wandering to the cold truth of his current state of isolation.

'Why doesn't anypony else understand? All the towns between Manehatten and Las Pegasus, and this thing showed up not only on the day of Nightmare Moon's return, but at the exact town too. I mean, sure, since it was following Miss Sparkle around, that makes sense. But why her? It'd probably have made more sense if it had shown up with Discord, so why didn't it? Because that's too predictable?'

This sort of thought process often went on in Sunshine's head and almost just as often out his mouth. Out of habit, he wandered away from the library and had begun making his way through Ponyville, his mind occupied by his paranoid train of thought.

Meanwhile, the rest of Ponyville began to wake up and start its day. The birds were singing and ponies were opening their windows to let in the morning breeze. Some were watering plants while their neighbors pulled weeds or got ready to go to market. It was a beautiful day, and everypony was enjoying it. At least, everypony except Sunshine.

Holding a hoof up to block out the morning sunlight, Sunshine quickly scanned the street for some shade. Seeing a relatively clean space between Carrot Top's house and Romana's, he made a beeline for it. Once there, he planted his plot and closed his eyes to the outside world. Hopefully, everypony would just think he fell asleep outside again and would leave him alone so he could do just that.

"Hi Sunshine!"

Too hopeful.

Opening his eyes, Sunshine looked up and was mildly affronted by pinkness. Knowing only one pony in Ponyville who could encapsulate such saccharine hues, Sunshine gave the party pony a tired smile. "Hello, Miss Pie."

Pinkie giggled. "Silly Sunny! Miss Pie is my sister! It's me, Pinkie!"

Sunshine let his tired smile become a wry one. "So I gathered, Miss Pie. Excuse me if I don't shove my manners in the closet."

Pinkie did that giggle again. This time, Sunshine noticed the scaly green snout poking out the side of Pinkie's mane. "You really are a silly Sunny! You don't put your manners in the closet, you put them on the dining room table and take one when you're hungry!"

"I believe that's bananas that you are referring to, Miss Pie." Sunshine looked about. "Speaking of such fruits, what brings you out to this alleyway this morning? I thought you usually shopped for baking supplies on weekends. Isn't today Tuesday?"

A chuckle this time. Sunshine assumed Gummy's presence in Pinkie's mane had to do with 'This Week's Episode' and left it at that. Toothless reptiles tended to be innocent fun for the humans. "Oh come on, Sunshine! You know why I'm here!"

"It's because of the humans, isn't it?" Sunshine let his tone drop. Anypony else would have called it depressing. Pinkie, on the other hoof...

"Oh, don't be such an Eeyore about it! Of course it's about the humans!" Pinkie stepped away from the entrance to the alley and lifted a hoof to indicate the street. "Almost everypony else has been seen by the humans! I don't think that they'll throw a fuss about you!"

"I don't know, Pinkie. Digi said that OP OCs tend to rile the viewers. I don't want to throw anything out of hoof just because I'm some background character with a few tricks."

"Silly Sunny! Who said anything about being a background character?" Leaning in, Pinkie widened her eyes. "The humans really want to see you, Sunny!" With a wink, she formed a conspiratorial grin. "Now wake up! We can't let you sleep through your big day!"

"HUH!"

Jerking awake, Sunshine looked around spastically. He was still in the same alley, but nopony was around. At least, not until Carrot Top poked her head around the corner.

"Keep it down, will ya? Some ponies like to tend their gardens in peace."

Blinking rapidly at her, Sunshine shook his head and let his adrenaline settle. "Yeah, sorry Miss Carrot. Just a bit of a nap fright. Sorry."

Carrot shrugged it off. "It might do you some good to sleep like everypony else for once, Snoozer. I'd hate to see you upset somepony who might take offense to you sleeping outside their house."

As Carrot Top went back to her garden, Sunshine noted his consistency in falling asleep near Carrot Top's home. Whenever he wandered through town, he passed it and always seemed to pass out nearby. Probably because Carrot Top lived halfway between his home and the library, but that didn't explain why he'd fallen asleep here even after wandering out to the Everfree Forest and back that one time.

'I wonder if there's some meaning behind it. Maybe something's supposed to happen here? No, this is a non-descript part of Ponyville. It's likelier that it's just become a habit like my pacing. Still, I have no idea why this place is so darn comfy. I bet all of Miss Carrot Top's friends like it here. Now who should I talk to about the humans...?'

All of a sudden, Sunshine's horn started to shine. Standing, he walked over to Carrot Top. "Miss Carrot, do you know where Lyra might be? I think she might know some things about the humans."

Looking over at Sunshine with a deadpan expression, Carrot Top noticed his lit horn. "You know as well as I do that the only pony who keeps track of that filly is Bon Bon. Go find her if you want Lyra."

Sunhine nodded appreciatively. "Thank you, Miss Carrot. Have a nice day."

As Sunshine trotted off on his newest mission, Carrot Top shook her head. "That stallion has gotta stop letting his horn drag him everywhere. Gonna get him in trouble some day. Derpy, get down from there!" Turning from her garden, Carrot Top yelled to the mailmare who'd just gone and stuck herself in the branches of a nearby tree.

"Sorry, Tops!"

Trotting around the streets of Ponyville, Sunshine tried his best not to find another shady spot and fall asleep. It was a huge temptation, but he had to find Lyra first. After that little incident with the plushies, Lyra was the foremost pony in judging whether or not the humans were harmless. If anypony could tell him what was going on on the other side, it was her.

Passing back through the area around the library, Sunshine noticed that the Fourth Wall had moved and wasn't anywhere in sight. 'Probably following somepony around right about now. How does it even move, anyway?' Pondering such thoughts, Sunshine wasn't looking where he was going. Of course, neither was the filly he tripped over.

Crash!

Finding himself nose to the ground, Sunshine put a hoof out and tried to find a good spot to push himself up from. Instead, his leg brushed against somepony, and he found himself being hauled upright. Brushing himself off, Sunshine turned to face whoever had helped him. Coming face to face with the Apples, he smiled. 'Of course. Maybe there'll be a pattern to today.' "Thank you for the assistance."

"It was nothin'! Right, Big Macintosh?" Applejack smiled back, patting Sunshine on the shoulder.

"Nnope." Big Mac chewed his stalk of grass, then turned to make sure Apple Bloom hadn't gone and gotten herself hurt. While he did that, Applejack turned back to Sunshine.

"So where you headed to, sugarcube?"

Sunshine dusted himself off. "I was hoping to find Lyra and maybe see if she could tell me anything about the humans behind the Fourth Wall. I'm... concerned that they aren't so harmless."

Applejack nodded a little. "Well, that's mighty noble of you, but I think they're a pretty decent sort. They watched over me as a filly, and didn't seem to do nothin' bad."

Sunshine nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Still, I feel that maybe somepony should still keep an eye on them, just in case."

Applejack nodded. "Well, if you want somepony who can do that, you should probably go see Pinkie Pie. She and Lyra were talking outside Sugarcube Corner this mornin'. And I'd bet Granny Smith's old teeth that it was about humans."

Grimacing at the mental picture of Granny Smith's dentures, Sunshine put on a apologetic smile. "Well, thanks for telling me at least. Have a nice day."

As Sunshine trotted off, Apple Bloom moved up next to her sister. "Think we should have told him? His horn was glowing, too."

Applejack shook her head. "Nah. We've got apples to sell, and opening that bag of worms would get us nowhere fast. Besides, Pinkie'll probably get a right good laugh out of it."

Making his way to Sugarcube Corner, Sunshine felt a little uplifted. 'Maybe once I talk to Lyra, I can put all of this behind me and get some sleep. I haven't stayed awake this far into the day for a long time. As Sugercube Corner came into view, Sunshine even smiled a little, causing the gloomy demeanor he'd been holding to fade.

Stepping into the confectionary shop, Sunshine saw Lyra and Pinkie sitting inside and smiled. "Hello Miss Pie, Miss Heartstrings."

Pinkie waved from behind the counter. "Hey there, Sunshine! What can I get for you? Want a Neighpolean? They're fresh!"

Sunshine shook his head. "Not today, Miss Pie. I was actually here to ask you two some questions."

Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Is it about the show we were planning on doing down at the lake? I can still see if anypony else wants to come and help with the lights."

Sunshine shook his head. "No, I got that covered. Miss Scratch and Miss Octavia were having a snit about the techniques they wanted, but I managed to smooth that out." Turning back to Pinkie, Sunshine moved a little closer to the counter. "I actually wanted to talk to you two about the humans."

Lyra shrugged her shoulders. "That's weird. Why come to us?"

Sunshine turned to Lyra, incredulous. "What do you mean?"

Pinkie giggled. "She means, silly Sunny, that you could have just asked them!"

Sunshine saw Pinkie extend her hoof. He saw her do it, and suddenly knew what was going to happen. It all seemed so obvious now. While everypony else had been doing something mundane this morning, he'd been doing something. Of course this would happen.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Sunshine turned his head and looked over his shoulder. There, slightly aside the door, stood the pony sized view screen. And on it, vague and shadowy silhouettes could be seen sitting or moving around.

'Oh horsefeathers.'

"Hey look!" Unperturbed by the strange sight, Pinkie put both front hooves on the counter. "Here comes the commercial break!"