//-------------------------------------------------------// Sunshine Smiles Bright -by Bronze Gears- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 After Luna's speech, some ponies began to trot home, considering it was 12:30 in the morning. Others crowded around Luna, talking, smiling, and giggling. Half an hour later, town hall's clock bells, echoing chimes, rang throughout Ponyville. Sunshine Smiles decided to hit the hay. He trotted home, thinking about what had happened earlier that night. He crawled underneath the sheets, and just thought. Trying to remember what had happened when he was a filly, he grew tired, and fell into a deep sleep. '"Sunshine!!! Time for bed young colt!" Luna called, a warm smile on her face. Celestia trotted into the room quietly, with a colt bounding behind her. "Hey buddy!" Luna spoke to the colt. "Hiya!" he said. Sunshine jumped onto Luna and Celestia's backs. "So, are you ready for a bedtime song?" Celestia asked with a gentle smile. "Okie dokie!" He answered sweetly. The princesses began, they were soft, graceful, and melodic. You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine. You make me happy... When skies are grey! You only know how... much that I love you! So please don't take... my Sunshine away!' //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 Shrieks of laughter echoed through the village. Fillies and colts raced through the candy-littered streets, pumpkins lit up the dark town, each with a different pattern. Ponies lugged around huge bags, filled to their limit with candy. Whoops and hollers, "NIGHTMARE NIGHT!!!" They all shouted. "Eeeeeyup!!" said a vampony Big Mac. Everypony had a different costume, clowns, pirates, wolves, StarSwirl the Bearded... Even Princess Luna's night guards celebrated, smiling, laughing, and trotting throughout the streets in Ponyville. Screams changed to laughter as ponies bounded to the next house, the only thing holding them back was the weight of their candy. After a few hours of candy hunting, younger ponies emptied the streets, leaving time for adults to celebrate and wait for Princess Luna's arrival. Night guards began to liven up, ponies grew hyper, everypony was excited for Luna's appearance. After a while of waiting, a few ponies brought out glasses of beer or wine. Which probably wasn't the best idea. An hour later, almost all the ponies still out were either drunk, or lying on the ground passed out. One night guard though, was told to try to keep calm, make sure nothing too extreme happened. So that's exactly what he was doing, trotting quietly through the streets, examining for any problems. Nope. He sat down, and noticed a small figure walking towards him. It was Spike, Twilight's assistant, everypony knew him after the whole "greedy growth destruction" thing... The guard looked closer and noticed he was stumbling. The guard examined Spike and saw a tiny glass of beer in his claw. The dragon slumped against a street lamp, the guard's ears lay flat and he rolled his eyes, "Heyyy..... Um... Wh-What's You...'re name?" Spike managed to mumble out. The guard grumbled and stood up, making Spike fall flat on his face. He jumped up, snapping out of his drunken stage. The night guard walked a few steps away and sat turned away from the dragon. "Um... I uh..." Spike said, throwing the glass out into the street. "So... I was wondering, what's you're name?" the tiny dragon smiled cheerily. The pony sighed and breathed out a barely audible name, "Sunshine Smiles..." He choked back tears and coughed loudly, trying not to remember the past. Spike chuckled, ignoring the pony's actions, "Sunshine Smiles? Kinda' ironic for a night guard isn't it?" He smiled though the grin quickly disappeared. The tiny dragon stepped towards the guard, putting his claw on the pony's shoulder. "You ok buddy?" Spike asked. A nervous look on his face. Tears streamed down Sunshine's cheeks, "No..." "Can you please leave me alone for a while?" He choked out. Spike took his hand off Sunshine, with a worried look on his face, he walked slowly away. The dragon only took a few steps before stopping and giving another glance to the night guard, "SPIKE!!!!!!!!" Yelled a familiar voice. Sunshine's ears perked up slightly, realizing who it was, "SPIKE GET OVER HERE!!!" Twilight screamed, a look of worry and anger washed over her face.         After the dragon refused to listen to the orders, Twilight let out an exaughsted sigh, "I really wish I didn't have to do this..." She whipped out her huge wings and raced over to her assistant, clumsily picking him up and flying him to the library. The guard  ignored the way she flew, flapping her wings out of sync, dropping and rising constantly, dragging Spikes feet on the ground. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2             After an hour, ponies had finally snapped out of their beer seduced comas. Sunshine flew up and observed the town for problems, then gently landed and checked his watch: 11:47 "Princess Luna should be here any minute now," he told himself.            Suddenly, the clouds spiraled into a blue-purple shade. Lightning flashed a shadow of the princess's chariot descending from the stars far away in the inky black sky. Ponies tilted their heads up and cheered to Luna. Other night guards flew to the chariot and guided her gently to the ground. She wore a light blue blanket, gave a gleaming smile, and unfurled her wings, showing off bright purple and blue feathers.            Sunshine watched Luna descend with a bright, alert, and happy face. Most ponies completely ignored his existence, and crowded in front of his view. The guard frowned, and scooted his way to the front of the crowd. The princess was stepping up onto a small stage, and gave a warm smile, "Good evening my wonderful subjects!" She spoke in a friendly tone, not her Canterlot voice. "I hope you are all having a fantastic night!" The crowd settled down and listened with big ears and even bigger smiles. "I was wondering if I could have a volunteer, to introduce to this wonderful audience."            A wave of hooves and shouts shook the weak stage trying to support Luna. Every single pony in the crowd was jumping for attention, waving their hooves, and yelling, except for one guard. The princess gave a nervous look, her ears lay flat, but it quickly disappeared when she noticed Sunshine, crouching in the yelling crowd, not saying anything."Ok. Ok. Calm down!" She ordered, leaving only waving, jumping ponies, "Um... What about you?" Luna pointed towards Sunshine, his ears perked up right when a mare jumped in front of him.             "ME!?!" The mare yelled excitedly. Luna shook her head and walked off stage, approaching the guard. "You," she spoke with a friendly smile. Sunshine walked next to the princess and ducked his head when he noticed how many ponies were actually there. "So... What's your name?" She asked into a microphone, then using her magic to put it near the guard's muzzle. His ears flattened nervously, and he looked at the ground, not wanting to share his name. Finally, Sunshine lifted his head and let out a barely audible name, "Sunshine Smiles Bright,"               The crowd snickered then let out a roar of laughter. Another wave of noise filled the village. Luna immediately recognized the name and gave a disappointed yet angered glare to the crowd. "I must say!!!" She boomed, "You have the guts to laugh at this pony!!!" Sunshine ducked with a nervous look, "You should never! Ever! Judge a book by it's cover!!!" She ordered. The crowd quieted, silence washed over the town.               Luna calmed down, but was still angered. "I would like you all to know something." She stated, "You are not offending him as much as you are offending me." The princess explained, "None of you realize who gave him that name... It was me." The crowd grew extremely quiet, not a hoof moved, all eyes were fixed on Princess Luna. "This pony right here," she glanced at Sunshine, "Was named for a good reason." She spoke with a firm tone.              "I named him after my sister, Princess Celestia's, favorite song... And that song is very important to her."