“Sunshine Smiles! You should have been ready ten minutes ago!” shouted a frustrated Orion, his temper getting the better of him, “You are going to be late! On the first day, no less!”

Pacing up and down the hallway, Orion sighed. He shouldn’t have expected anything more of his son. The kid needed a constant eye on him to make sure he was doing anything right. It wasn’t that he had trouble with his work if the straight-As had anything to say about it. It was that his attention constantly wandered.

“I’m just finishing off!” called Sunshine from upstairs, his tone a higher pitch than usual. That could only indicate one thing.

“Are you lying to me, Sunshine?” yelled Orion. He was becoming impatient with his son, his hoof tapping away as the seconds ticked away. He didn’t receive a response, much less any indication that the colt had listened to anything he’d just said.

With another sigh, Orion made his way upstairs, the stair creaking with each step he put any weight on. At about midway up the stairs, a loud scuffle could be heard coming from Sunshine’s room, a sudden burst of movement indicating what Orion knew all along. He pushed open the closed door that muffled all noises from within, and was greeted by the sight of scattered laundry and untidy shelves but what annoyed him most was the loud heavy metal music that Sunshine had on.

Sunshine could be seen digging school work from under his bed, his flank waving around as objects were flung everywhere. Orion rolled his eyes, and just waited for his son to move out. Orion found himself looking around the messy room, with shutters closed and the lights on at their dimmest. Orion, with his aging eyes, could still see the majority of his son’s room, but the darkest corners kept secrets from him. Orion looked at the clock: ten to nine or, as he seemingly always had to call it, Late.

“Lost something, have we?” groaned Orion, much to the young colt’s surprise. Jumping in shock, Sunshine’s head made a solid connection with the underside of his bed, give a satisfying thunk. Mumbling a few choice words that didn’t involve swearing (since Dad was in the room); Sunshine carefully backed out, and turned to face his father, rubbing the back of his head in pain.

“Have you seen my sunglasses and grey hoodie?” asked Sunshine, his eyes darting around the room in an attempt to spot them. Orion, however, knew exactly where they were. He took a few steps towards his son and knocked the sunglasses down off the kid’s forehead. Sunshine just stared up at his father, sheepishly grinning. Orion wasn’t happy with the colt, but he couldn’t blame him. He’d done the same with his Guard helmet a number of times. Orion just brushed it off with a chuckle.

They looked round for the sweatshirt together, and eventually, they’d found it crumpled up on the floor. Orion didn’t look too pleased that his son had put it on, but it passed the sniff test so Sunshine had no complaints.

Quickly, Orion turned tail and made for the door, his son hot on his heels. They briefly split to find their respective equipment. Orion made his way to the store cupboard to get pick up his lunch and Sunshine made a dash to pick up his bag and shove a current bun in his mouth for breakfast. Reconvening at the front door, the pair made their way out of the house and began the walk to school.

Father and son walked straight to school, but not before long, Sunshine had found himself lagging behind, hiding himself from any colt or filly that might have seen him. His father just ignored the antic, expecting it to be some sort of ridiculous game that he’d come up with. It was only the whimpers when they could see the school in the distance that gave the anxiety away.

A few steps away from the school, Orion stopped and turned to his son, giving him a concerned look. The colt shrank into his shoulders with a pout and shaky breathing.

“Nervous?” he asked, well aware what the answer was. The colt slowly nodded, and Orion chuckled. “There’s no reason to be. You know a few ponies there, and the teacher seemed nice.” He received a murmur in response from his kid. “Look, Sunshine” sighed Orion, “I know you’re a… little bit nervous, but just forget about it, okay? I’m sure you’ll have no problems with the work.”

Sunshine stood awkwardly, avoiding eye contact and brushing his hoof along the cobblestone floor. “It’s not the work I’m worried about…” mumble the colt, “It’s just, what if the other foals don’t like me? What if they think I’m weird?” He gave his wings a flap just for effect. He held them tight to his body, and he’d never seen another pony like himself. He was self-conscious about his unique appendages.

“Come on, son. I’m sure you’re just overreacting. Now, go and be strong for me.” Orion gave a reassuring smile to his son, looking to encourage him that he was just being a little paranoid. The colt looked up at his dad, sensing his intentions. Sunshine eventually smiled back, and nodded.

“Sure thing, Dad. I’ll be strong like you.” With that, the colt turned tail and walked quickly, albeit cautiously, towards the door of Canterlot Pegasi School. His slowly disappeared into the building, ready for the day ahead of him.
Orion turned back to walk home. He knew his son might have some trouble, and that at the end of the day, he might even regret his decision not to be home schooled, but he had a chance to be happy. A chance that might not come around often and Orion knew the kid had to take it.

He still worried about him, and couldn’t shake the feeling that the kid was right. As Orion walked away, he hummed a song that he’d never gotten out of his head. The song that his wife loved and sung to herself whenever life seemed to be at its worst. The song Sunshine was named for.

The belling rang loud as the class filed in through the narrow door. The hustle and bustle of the queue meant the doorway was congested, but slowly each student made their way through without much trouble. One-by-one, they sat down at named desks until none were left standing.

Sunshine slouched in his seat, his wings rustling under his sweatshirt. He looked about the class room with caution not to draw attention. Most were talking to one another about holidays and the like.

“Good Morning Class!” called the teacher, bounding through the doorway with a skip in his step that Sunshine doubted that would last very long. He was an off-white pegasus with dark sapphire blue eyes, which shone with eagerness and enthusiasm. “My name is…” he said quickly, having turned and picked up the chalk to write on the blackboard behind him, “Professor Point Dexter. I will be your tutor during the coming year for Biology.”

As the teacher continued to ramble on about the syllabus, Sunshine tried to listen, but found himself worrying. “I hope I don’t have to come up to the front…” he mumbled to himself, unfocused on the teacher’s speech. A few groans could be heard echoing around the small classroom.

“Now now, class. I don’t want anyone complaining about how much there is to learn. You have three years to learn all of it. That’s not even a page of the textbooks per lesson! You’ll have plenty of time to learn all about the cardiac cycle and how it is different to the cardiovascular system!” groaned Professor Dexter, rolling his eyes at the lack of enthusiasm from his pupils.

Another collective grumble rang out, and Sunshine lost his cool, chuckling louder than he intended to. He realised too late that the teacher had already had picked him out as a trouble maker. Sunshine caught the teacher’s glance mid-laugh, and froze. The disapproving look that he had been given made him immediately sit up straight and give a sheepish grin back, accompanied by a nervous squee.

“So Mister Smiles, if you think it’s so funny, why don’t you give us three examples of heart problems? I’m sure we’d all be enlightened by your superior knowledge” the Professor grumbled, a hint of a snarl on his face. With the whole class watching, Sunshine could only stammer and delay, trying to come up with something. He knew one, but he couldn’t get it out. He had to think of another.

“Well, Arteries can be blocked, impeding the flow of blood?” The teacher solely looked at the colt with raised eyebrows, hoping he would elaborate. Sunshine thought some more. “The heart can also have holes in it, and…” Sunshine cringed, knowing he wouldn’t be able to say the last. “I…I…I…”

Professor Dexter rolled his eyes, sighing, and with some disappointment in his voice, he grumbled “It seems we have the first casualty of the school year, and only three minutes into the lesson no less. See me after class, Mr Smiles.” The colt slumped over his desk in grief, annoyed he had already been caught out. He continued watching the lesson, whether it was so he didn’t have to learn it again or just out of boredom he didn’t know but what he couldn’t wait for was to be saved by the bell.

A few periods had passed and the time for morning break was close approaching. Sunshine, only a few lessons into the school year, was already wishing for the next holiday. He was hot and bothered in his sweatshirt. It didn’t help that he was stuck in the least interesting subject ever: Old Equestrian, a dead language that only applied to select scrolls in the Canterlot Archives for Unicorns to learn old magic. Last time he checked, he wasn’t a unicorn.

“I know it’s very early in the term but I want to see how much you can retain. Therefore, there will be a test scheduled for next Thursday” the teacher stated, almost threateningly. She was an elderly grey unicorn with half moon spectacles, and looked like she should have been a librarian. The entire class, including Sunshine, just exhaled with frustration.
With that the bell rang clear and all the students quickly shuffled around, packing to get out for break. Sunshine, finding himself in the front row, was the first to bolt. Into the corridor, ponies were flooding from every door. He galloped to the exit, and burst through the double doors.

Slowing down in the fresh air, he found himself in amongst a group of 9 bulky colts. At the front stood the large white colt from before, shouting in a voice seemingly too deep for such a young pony. “Alright, first day, first game. We all know that this’ll probably affect picking teams for the rest of the year” he bellowed, “so if you’re not trying, it won’t turn out so good for you this year. Any problems?”

With almost perfect synchronisation, everypony but Sunshine made some sort of gesture or noise to say no. The white colt smiled. “Good. Dumb Bell, Hot Shot, you’re captains. Pick your teams.” Two almost identical oversized colts walking side-by-side out of the crowd. They looked at one another once they were separated from the rest and one grunted to the other. Turning to the group and eyeing up every individual there. Eventually, one pointed and called out “Warden” and the white colt from before stepped out and stood with the colt who’d called him.

Sunshine stood amongst their ranks wondering what they were doing. Most probably a sport of some sort, but which sport was a mystery to him until it began. A few more colts were selected and the group began to thin out. Sunshine was obviously the smallest of all the colts and was hidden for the most part. Soon, Sunshine was the last colt standing.

Both teams began turning away, ignoring him, until one voice bellowed out “Wait.” Everypony stopped and looked around to see who had yelled. Warden stood tall amongst them, looking back at Sunshine. The colt looked sincere and asked “Hey, Sunset Smiles, right?” Sunshine just nodded, not wanting to make a fuss, while Warden just smiled back, “You’re with us. Come on, let’s go play some soccer.”

The group moved on with Warden, having left Sunshine wondering what had just transpired. He’d just been allowed into their game. So what was he doing sitting around? Sunshine sprinted off after them, following Warden to one end of the pitch.

As Sunshine arrived, the captain began. “Come on, you lot. I want to win so don’t mess it up. Sticky Hooves, you’re in goal. Brick and Warden, defence, don’t let anypony through. I’ll go upfront to score. Err, you, Sunny something, just try not to get in our way” instructed the Colt, giving Sunshine a brief glance before trotting away. Sunshine groaned, a little intimidated but mostly upset he was thought to be a burden.

Warden came over, sticking a leg over Sunshine’s shoulder, and bringing him close. “Don’t mind Hot Shot, he’s all bark and no bite. Just don’t be afraid to show off and you’ll be fine.” With a few words of wisdom, Warden fell back into position for the start of the match.

Within moments, the ball began moving towards Sunshine, and he gulped nervously. He went straight for the colt with the ball, knocking the ball out from the colt’s reach. However, it fell into the path of the other team once again.

Sunset chased back, watching Warden tackle the player and successfully hold onto the ball. He ran, unafraid to head straight into the next player, hitting the ball past him and running past too. Sunshine ran with him and soon, it was three against three. Warden passed to Hot Shot, who ran straight into a defender, losing the ball.

Sunset and Warden fell back, keeping up with the player. Warden took his opportunity and pushed the player off the ball, and knocked it over to Sunshine. Sunshine paused a moment, unable to decide what to do. He looked to Warden, who shrugged off the player and gestured to go forward.

Sunshine turned quickly and ran with the ball, keeping it close. He came across a player and tried repeating what Warden had done. He knocked the ball under the other colt, and ran around him to meet up with the ball again.

“Ha, nice nutmeg!” Warden shouted with some glee in his voice. Sunshine continued running into the open wings of the field and looked across at the goal. Hot Shot jumped and called for the ball, looking to get his head on it.

Sunshine obliged and took a big swing at the ball that floated into the penalty box at a good height. Hot Shot jumped too early and only brushed the ball, making it fly out of play. Sunshine stuck his hoof in the air, and called “Sorry”. He was ignored and Sunshine ran back into the middle of the pitch, ready to resume play.

Their goalkeeper, who had been the other captain, kicked it hard, and it flew over the heads of everypony but Warden. He controlled it and let it fall to his hooves. With no pressure, he knocked it to Brick who scooped it around and ran with it.
Pushing forward, he stopped and looked for Hot Shot, who was running down the wings. He gave it an almighty boot as it lifted into the air, getting caught in the wind. The wind made it curve into the centre of the pitch, a few meters from both Sunshine and a defender.

Sunshine looked up, and the defender looked back at him. With an invisible signal, both started galloping for the ball. Sunshine beat him to it and knocked the ball to the side, letting the player come through at it.

Yet the defender didn’t stop, and crashed straight into Sunshine. Groans of pain and cringing echoed around, as Sunshine rolled along the ground with a thud. Warden ran to his aid, but he was up before anypony knew.

“Are… Are you okay, Sunset?” Warden asked, seeing a few small red blots forming on Sunshine’s sweatshirt. Sunshine just shook it off and rubbed the wound. He gave a quick nod and smiled, not noticing that his sunglasses had come off. Warden stared, shocked and speechless. Sunshine wondered what was wrong but somepony had quickly called for the game to restart.

As Sunshine stepped away, he brushed off some dirt and carried on with a free kick. He could see Hot Shot in the penalty box, waving his hooves like mad. Sunshine had other ideas; he knocked it backwards to Warden, and ran ahead, putting his team at less of a disadvantage.

With two ponies against three defenders, Warden played the ball to Brick and followed Sunshine’s example, to make it even. Once again, Brick hoofed the ball up and over the middle of the field and it landed at Sunshine’s hooves.

Sunshine made the decision quicker this time, turning fast and having space to run into. He galloped with the ball into a more central position, and leaving a defender behind. He ran further up the pitch and repeated his method of getting past the defender, leaving him one on one with their goalkeeper.

The goalkeeper came off his line, shrinking the target that Sunshine had to shoot at. Sunshine looked to his left; Warden was standing still, watching this little colt run past ponies that were years older than him. He looked to his right; Hot Shot had been running with him, and was in a better position. He knocked the ball to the right, passing it into the path of Hot Shot.

Hot Shot looked surprised and ran faster to get onto the end of the ball. He was past the goal keeper and needed only to slot the ball into the goal. He looked nervous and gave the ball a hit. It pea-rolled along the floor but slowly, it found the corner of the goal.

Everypony stopped, and began to cheer on Hot Shot, who was revelling in his goal. Sunshine gave a look over to them, seeing their happiness. “Aw yeah, that was all me!” Hot Shot yelled, pleased with himself. All the colts surrounding him began chanting his name, “Hot Shot! Hot Shot! Hot Shot!”

Sunshine trotted over smiling to congratulate his team-mate. “Nice finish, Hot Shot!” he laughed, but silence hit with those words. Everypony stared at him. Some looked worried, other looked ready to fight. A few mutterings echoed from the crowd. Hot Shot turned to them and whispered something. Slowly, he turned back, a curious look in his eye, and walked towards Sunshine.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” he asked, leaning into Sunshine’s personal space. Sunshine retreated and found himself stammering for an answer for the second time that day. He wasn’t given much time once again as Hot Shot followed up with more rapid-fire questions, “Why were you hiding your eyes? What’s with the sweatshirt? What else are you hiding?”
Sunshine opened his mouth to answer but no sound came out. He felt weak and powerless to stop himself from exposing his dark secret. He’d wanted to hide them, at least until he had some friends. He sniffled as he removed the sweatshirt to show his secret, rather than tell it.

With a slight tug, his head disappeared, and soon his hooves followed suit until the sweatshirt fell to the floor. No reaction was made until Sunshine flexed his wings, stretching them after cooping them up all this time. Everypony took a step back and murmurs arose. Judging stares pierced through Sunshine and he cringed, awaiting the inevitable.

Everypony seemed to gather round him, and prodded his wings. The murmurs continued, but now Sunshine could hear the all their spiteful words, echoing around him. Sunshine’s head drooped, feeling betrayed by the friends he thought he’d made. Tears began to amass behind his eyes, and a few wept out.

They enjoyed his weakness and laughed at him, not concerned with the consequences. Overcome with regret, Sunshine’s tears started to flow more freely, but he never made a sound, as though he’d accepted it from the beginning. There was no point in denying it anymore. Why did he want to go to public school?

Humiliated, Sunshine picked up his belongings and dragged himself away. He only made it a few steps before somepony caught up to him. Bracing for a beating or more insults, he didn’t expect the off-white hoof that wrapped around his back and pulled him close. Out of strained eyes, he peek out at Warden, still looking shocked, but he was smiling nevertheless. Warden stopped him trudging away and gave him a warm smile. “What did you say your name was again?” he asked, sincere and curious.

“Sunshine Smiles” the young colt replied, sniffling and wiping his eyes. He held his head low, wary of the other pony that stood beside him.

“Sunshine Smiles, huh? Wow, that’s pretty… ironic for a dark grey bat pony” he laughed. Bat pony? It didn’t sound like an insult. “Y’know, your wings are pretty cool. They’re unique to you, not like these feather dusters” said Warden, giving his own wings a flap. He looked back to Sunshine’s wings and eyed them with what seemed to be some envy.

“Thanks…” replied Sunshine, a little nervous. His guard was still high, but slowly it was dropping as Warden continued talking. Sunshine looked up at the larger colt, his eyes drying up. Warden wasn’t keeping him at an unsure distance, getting close enough to even be brush alongside him.

Warden sighed, leaving Sunshine a little confused. “Look, you don’t need to act like a pushover. Just look at what you did in that soccer game. You shrugged of a tackle that would’ve put most colts out for the rest of the day, ran half of the pitch with the ball, and set up the goal.” Sunshine just nodded, remembering all the things he had done. “You’re better than most of them. Don’t let them get you down!”

Sunshine just looked down, looking guilty. Warden laughed a little at the younger colt’s anxiety. “Come on, you and me, let’s go get some lunch. I’m Warden by the way.”

“I can relate. I never got to know my father. He died in a training accident, but he saved his friend and a couple of his superiors in the process, so I suppose I can say he died a hero.” Looking out at the tree above them, they lay on their backs regaling each other with stories from their lives. Warden looked a little sad talking about his dad, but he pushed through it, smiling as he told the story.

“I’m sorry to hear that” whispered Sunshine, sincere and a little shocked. Warden just waved a hoof at him, dismissing his apology. He shook his head and chuckled a little.

“No need to be. It wasn’t your fault, was it? Anyway, you’re the one that came off a little worse. I can’t imagine how your father felt…” Warden said, curious about how similar the two colts were. Sunshine backed off a little, and squeaked, recalling his father’s emotions.

“He… I think he treats me like any other father would treat a son. He relates, we like each other, but he gets a little overprotective sometimes, more so than normal parents because, well, I think he sees me as the last piece of my mom he’s got.” Sunshine sighed, he knew that his father cared but he never could shake the feeling that he was only cared so much for because of what had happen to his mom.

The white colt chuckled a little, not at Sunshine, but with him. “You think too much, Sunshine! Your father loves you. That’s all you need to know.” A sympathetic smile was once again etched across Warden’s face, and Sunshine couldn’t resist returning the smile. They sighed in content and stretched out their backs. Laying and watching the clouds, both were relaxed. “Anyway, you said you’re father was a guard, right?” Warden said, looking to continue the conversation.

“Yeah. He’s an officer. He doesn’t do much training anymore because he’s getting on in his years, but he still leads some troops now and again. He assigns Guards their posts in the castle at the moment, but I think he wants to work with the new recruits.” Sunshine gave a bit of a smirk talking about his father’s age, but Warden didn’t give it much notice, excited to hear about Orion’s job.

“I’ve wanted to be a guard for ages. You’ve got to introduce me to your dad! Please?” Warden squeaked, buzzing with enthusiasm. Sunshine saw his dedication in his eyes and smiled.

“Maybe someday” Sunshine snickered, teasing his friend. He was given a pout in return, but he just laughed a little more. He gave a little thought to his father’s job, and what had got Warden so excited, smiling as it interested him. “My dad’s job is pretty cool, isn’t it?”

Author's Notes:

As a Brit, it hurt a little to call it soccer...