Lesser Light: My Time in the Limelight

by soothsayer

Rating: teen
Tags: Sweetie Belle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Silver Spoon, Original Character, Comedy, Slice of Life
Length: 22078

A month without Diamond Tiara sounds like a dream come true for the CMC. How will they react when their own resident bully is traded in for a Bat Pony known as a walking disaster.

The joy of student exchange comes to Ponyville elementary in the form of the rambunctious Bat Pony Narcissus Floret. The CMC are going to enjoy a vacation from Diamond Tiara. Narcissus has a history of destruction and combined with catastrophic force that is the CMC, Ponyville is going to Tartarus. Narcissus has many lonely nights ahead of her. Who will she find to help her cope with the long night.

My entry for Equestria Daily's October Bat Pony Write Off. This was going to be my entry but now it's getting to be too long. Oh, well. Its got a life of its own now. I can't bare to cut it short just because of a couple entry rules. May the night last forever.

Continued in Lesser Light: Timed Trials in Infinite Space http://www.fimfiction.net/story/142183/lesser-light-timed-trials-in-infinite-space
A Meisterverse Story.

Published 2013-10-25 12:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-30 18:22:16 UTC

Chapter 1

"Ah can't believe it! A whole month without Diamond Tiara!" Said Apple Bloom excitedly.

"We needed this vacation so much!" squeaked Sweetie Belle.

"Look at Silver Spoon she is freaking out," added Scootaloo pointing a hoof towards the gray and silver filly across the room from them.

Wide eyed, Silver Spoon looked like she was doing her best impression of Discord encased in stone. Her world and her very sanity depended on her best friend Diamond Tiara. Without her this month was going to be horrible.

The classroom was roaring with activity as it slowly filled up with energetic young colts and fillies. After a three day weekend they were all still in full weekend play mode when Cheerilee entered the room. The volume in the room died down quickly as the students noticed the classroom goddess.

"Good Morning Miss Cheerilee!" the class said more or less in unison.

"Good Moring Class!" answered Cheerilee in her usual happy tone.

"Ah wonder who we traded Diamond for?" whispered AB to Scoots.

"I don't know but they better be cool," replied Scoots.

"I don't care who it is really, I just hope he or she is nice." added Sweetie trying to get her two-cents worth of the conversation.

Silver groaned as she glared at Diamonds empty seat, "Why did you have to leave me alone, Diamond?"

"I know how exited we all where when we finally got approval from the Equestrian School Board to allow the Ponyville school system an exchange student program. And I know many of you had your parents sign you up for the program. I don't know weather to be proud because my students were willing to go on an educational adventure or sad because you just wanted to get away from me." said Cheerilee with a chuckle.

"I'm glad I didn't get picked," said Sweetie, "I don't know how or why Rarity convinced Mom and Dad to even sign me up."

Sniggering Scootaloo shot Sweetie a crooked smile, "I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with our Pet Grooming cutie mark idea."

"Ah thought we agreed to never talk about that ever again, Ah still got scabs from that monster Rarity calls a cat." Said AB with a shutter, "Ah wished Applejack, Big Mac, and granny would have let me sign up. Ah could have gotten a adventure cutie mark."

"Why didn't you sign up Scootaloo?" asked Sweetie.

"Why do you think?" replied Scoots pointing at Cheerilee, "Aunt Cheerilee said it wouldn't be fair if I entered. Wouldn't want to give all the other kids the idea that she might be biased she said. What ever that means."

"Being biased means-" Sweetie started to say as she watched Scootaloo cover her ears with her hooves. Sweetie crossed her hooves across her chest and started to pout.

"Do you paint over your dictionary cutie mark every morning Sweetie?" asked AB innocently.

"Ha ha ha" laughed Sweetie mockingly.

"Sweetie Belle!" shouted Cheerilee sternly.

A blush flooded across Sweeties cheeks as she looked at her teacher, "Uh, yes Miss Cheerilee?"

"Do you have a joke to share with the class?"

Sweetie Bell scratched the back of her head trying to find her blushes' off switch, "Uh I don't think so."

"Please try to be a little more quite the next time," added the red mare.

"So as I was saying, our exchange student comes from a small town on the east side of the Everfree Forest named Shades Valley. So without further ado let us welcome our new student." said Cheerilee as she opened up the door letting the new student enter the room.

Apple Blooms chin dropped to the floor. Scootaloo did a quick hoof pump,

"Forget about cool, she is awesome!"

Sweetie Bell blinked several time trying to make since of what she was seeing. And Silver Spoon slid down her in seat, cursing Celestia and Luna for taking Diamond away and replacing her with a creature from her nightmares. The rest of the class let out a combined gasp and squee.

Standing beside their beloved teacher was a ash gray coated filly with a pixie styled silver mane. Upon her muzzle sat a pair of solid black horn rimmed glasses with a clip shade flipped down over the lenses. She swayed back and forth just a little looking like Rainbow Dash after drinking too much cider.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" Cheerilee asked the filly.

The little filly strutted forward, or tried to strut forward but she tripped over her own feet and face planted into the floor. Which garnered an almost unanimous fit of laughter from the entire class. Scootaloo stuck her hoof in her mouth to keep from laughing along with the rest of the class. She could see that AB was having a tough time as well because she was chewing her lip something fierce as tears of laughter started to pool in the corners of her eyes. Sweetie Bell was taking it like a champ, the only expression she wore was a mask of concern. What was strange was Silver Spoon, she wasn't laughing and she wasn't having any trouble not laughing either. She just glared at the Diamond replacement sprawled out on the floor.

Cheerilee helped the little filly to her feet. The filly turned and focused on the wall to her right. Her face glowed with anger and embarrassment. "I'll show them!" she said under her breath. She glanced over at Cheerilee's desk and then yelled, "Na Na Na Nuh Na," as she ran toward the desk and leaping on top of it. She threw her leathery wings out wide and stomped the desk as hard as he could, filling the room with a thunderous, "Clop! As she screamed, BAT PONY!"

Chapter 2

"BAT PONY!" yelled the ash gray night-pegasus with a outrageously wide grin. Looking out over the class she could see all of their faces were a mix of shock and glee. After a few pregnant moments of silence the class room roared into laugher again. Her wings drooped to her side, they were laughing at her again. Turning around she spotted the earth mare teacher, her left eye was twitching in annoyance.

"Pff!" squeaked the little gray filly at Miss Cheerilee's twitchy face as she pressed both of her hooves to her lips trying not to laugh at the reddening mare. The weight of the class room was lifted off of her small shoulders as she realized they weren't laughing at her they were laughing the normally well composed teacher.

"Narcissus Floret! Would you please get off my desk." demanded Cheerilee sternly as he gave the filly a hard look.

Narcissus jumped down from the desk and gave Cheerilee a nervous smile, "I'm sorry miss Cheerilee! I...I had to do it. You're not going to hold it against me are you?"

Cheerilee's gaze softened, "No I'm not going to hold it against you but you will stay after school today and help me clean up the classroom as punishment."

Gulping Narcissus let out a nervous chuckle, "Aw-shoot! Ok fine, I'll stay after class and help,".

"I still want introduce yourself to the class." prompted the teacher.

The little filly turned excitedly to her fellow classmates, "Ahem, My name is Narcissus Floret. I'm a night-pegasus from the town of Shades Valley. My dad's name is Ulysses Silvermane and he is the captain of Princess Luna's Night Guard. My mom's name is Night Lilly and she works for the Nocturnian Revenue and Business Board. I have nine siblings. I can't fly yet but I'm practicing every chance I get. My dream is to be the first night-pegasus Wonderbolt.", she said proudly.

"Hey Scoots! Narcissus is a dodo just like you." jested AB.

"Shut up Bloom!" Scoots said finishing her insult as she stuck her tongue out at the yellow earth filly.

"Now that you have introduced yourself why do you find a seat." said Cheerilee pointing at several available seats. Narcissus looked at her choices. There were three open seats the first of which was stationed next to a light yellow earth pony filly with poufy red hair, who gave her a big hopeful grin. The next was at the back of the class behind a cream colored pegagus colt and beside a green unicorn colt. They too looked way to happy about the possibility. The last seat was in between a yellow earth pony filly and a gray earth pony filly who wouldn't even look at her. A snarky smile stretched across Narcissus' lips, the gray filly was going to be her first victim. She trotted over to claim her desk.

The CMC watched Narcissus walk to her desk, "Aw yeah!" thought AB as the night-pegasus made a beeline for the Diamond Tiara's old seat.

"She doesn't have a cutie mark!" gasped Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo couldn't believe she missed something as important as a filly not having her cutie mark sooner.

"Are yaw thinking what Ah'm thinking!" exclaimed AB excitedly.

"Yeah!," added Scootaloo.

"Cutie Mark Crusader Recruiters, Yay!" the three said in unison.

Narcissus plopped down in the empty desk seat and shooting Silver Spoon a playful grin,

"You don't look happy to see me."

Silver rolled her eyes and then looked over to the nightmarish filly. The two stared each other down as Silver tried to screw up enough courage to speak. She couldn't take Narcissus glare, mostly because she couldn't see the fillies eyes behind her shades. It really unnerved her to the point that she felt a cold chill creep up her spine. Narcissus smirked as Silver shivered under her gaze, which stretched into a confident smile as her nemesis looked away.

Noticing that Narcissus' flank was bare gave Silver the much need confidence boost she needed,

"Don't mind me, I never pay attention to blank flanks like you."

Narcissus smile melted away and was replaced by a blank look. It was Silvers turn to smirk. She faced the black board thinking she had won. A warmth spread over her cutie mark which was followed by a tingly feeling from deep inside as something brushed across her mark. Jerking her head around she spotted a wing tip tracing an outline of her cute mark. Her gaze ran up the wing; to the fillies body and finally to Narcissus's face which had a confident glower painted across it,

"Your right I am just a lowly blank flanked filly! All that means is that I am still experimenting," retorted Narcissus in a sultry tone and giving Silver her an innocent rendition of her bedroom eyes. Silver knocked Narcissus' wing tip off of her own cutie mark and the raised her hoof to cover her glowing face,

"I will never forgive you for leaving me, Diamond!" she hissed under her breath.

"Wow! Ah gotta say that was the best comeback ever," giggled AB.

Narcissus turned to look at her other neighbor,

"Well it was good if I don't say so myself."

"Ah wished Ah could of thought of that, it would have saved me a lot of trouble. By the way my name is Apple Bloom and Welcome to Ponyville." beamed AB offering a hoof in greeting.

Shooting her hoof up Narcissus bumped hooves with the yellow filly,

"I'm glad to be here, I think I'm going to have a wicked time!"

Horning in on the conversation Scootaloo wasn't going to be left out,

"So you want to be a Wonderbolt?"

"I don't want to be a Wonderbolt. I'm going to be a Wonderbolt!" said Narcissus.

Scootaloo waved her hoof dismissively at Narcissus,

"You sound like my big sis, Rainbow Dash."

Narcissus' eyes glazed over, "The Rainbow Dash! As in Rainboom Rainbow Dash! She's your big sister?" she squeed .

"Well she isn't my real sister, more like she is my awesome and amazing sister/mentor," answered Scootaloo.

Sweetie rolled her eyes,

"Pony feathers! I can barely handle one Rainbow Dash fan girl. Now I've got to deal with two, woo hoo," she groaned under her breath.

"I'm Scootaloo, the fasts filly on two wheels" pointing at the white unicorn across from her, "And that white coated filly with the pink and purple mane is Sweetie Belle!"

Sweetie gave Narcissus a wide smile, "Nice to meet you Narcissus!" she loudly squeaked.

"SWEETIE BELLE!" barked Cheerilee at Sweetie's loud interruption.

Groaning Sweetie gave Cheerilee an apologetic look, "Yes, miss Cheerilee?"

Cheerilee brushed her hair back and then sighed, "You will be joining Narcissus in our after school activities today."

"AW COME ON!" she shouted before she slammed her head on her desk.

Chapter 3

If anything happened that was remotely interesting Narcissus missed it. She spent most of the day trying to hide behind a book so Cheerilee wouldn't catch her sleeping. The day before she spent unpacking and getting to know Diamond Tiara's dad, Filthy Rich. He really didn't have much time for her. He spent most of his day in his either in his study or at the store he owned. Their butler was a kindly old stallion and several of the maids were nice enough. But they all had something in common, they were boring. And despite their warnings, she slept most of the day. That long nap was proving to be a real pain. Because of it she was up all night, which was still very normal for her seeing as Bat Ponies were nocturnal.

The only thing she woke up for was when Apple Bloom woke her up for the welcome party they held in her honor just before school let out. If all the colts and fillies weren't enough to fill her up with energy, a shot of Pinkie Pie added to her adrenalin high.

All of her classmates except for Sweetie Belle had gone home. Cheerilee had left the two of them to clean up after the party. "Why did I have to get stuck with Sweetie Belle? Apple Bloom or Scootaloo would have been more fun." she thought.

Picking up trash Sweetie kept an eye on her workmate,

"Uh, Narcissus have you thought about what me and the girls asked you about during recess?.

"Huh?" questioned Narcissus.

"About Joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"Oh. Well not really," replied Narcissus.

"Oh, ok then," remarked Sweetie as she picked up another paper plate, "I think you would like it."

Ignoring the little unicorn Narcissus started to remove and fold up the table cloths that were scattered around small area of the play ground that Cheerilee had chosen as ground zero for the party.

"Narcissus?" asked Sweetie again.

Face hoofing she eyed Sweetie menacingly, "Ok if your going to be asking me a bunch of stupid questions lets get one thing straight. The only ponies who call me Narcissus are my parents and maybe Mr. Rich. If want to call me something call me Narci ok." she said stifling a yawn.

"Narci the narcoleptic," muttered Sweetie Belle.

"What was that Squeaky Belle?" fumed Narci.

Sweetie's laid her ears back and pawed at the ground in anger,

"I said Narci the Narcoleptic!"

In one leap Narci covered the ground between her and Sweetie Belle, charging into the unicorns side. The fell in a heap on the grass.

"Ouch! Hey don't pull my ha-" screeched Sweetie, before her words where cut off by her mouth being pressed against the ground. Narci rubbed the unicorns hair in the dirt and grass for a moment before Sweetie threw her body to the side rolling out from underneath her. Loosing her footing Narci fell onto her side,

"Oof" was all she managed to get out before the air was forced from her body. Sweetie rolled to her feet and gave the ashen filly a hurt look. The rational part of her mind told her to run away or run inside to get Cheerilee but that was all buried deep as her rage began to boil over. She wasn't going to trade a bully like Diamond Tiara who never went further than a few hurtful words for a bully that would actually attack.

Narci had just started to breath normally when her the air was mashed out of her again as Sweetie slammed her body down on her prone form. The white filly pulled her self up and then sat down on the bat ponies chest,

"I won't let you treat a lady like me like a punching bag, just because you don't like me. All me and my friends wanted was for you to be our friend. Bloom and Scootaloo wanted to make you a Crusader like me and you wouldn't even think about it." cried Sweetie Belle channeling her inner Rarity.

During the altercation Narci had lost her glasses and being forced on her back the sun bored into her eyes. The rays felt like they were cutting into her brain. Wincing in pain she focused on the filly sitting atop her chest. She could barely make out Sweeties form. Without her glasses she was useless. Even without the complication of the sun her vision was bad. Her sharp ears caught the subtle sounds of sobbing. Warmth flooded her own eyes just before her own tears flowed down her face. Being laughed at was hard enough but being powerless was soul crushing. Swallowing her pride she muttered,

"I'm sorry Sweetie Belle,".

A slight smile stretched across the unicorns face as she moved off her friend. Sweetie ran a hoof through her mane trying to get back to its pre-scuffle state.

"Hey uh, Sweets could you hand me my glasses?" asked Narci pitifully.

After looking around for a moment Sweetie spotted them lying on the ground a few feet away. Scrunching up her eyes she focused on the glasses, she could feel tendrils of magic form. With the tendrils she reached out to the glasses and wrapped them up in her ethereal force and pulled them to her. Just as she started the hand them over she teased,

"Why? Can't you get them yourself?"

Raising up Narci looked in Sweetie's direction. Hearing Sweetie gasp; she gave the unicorn a pained smile.

Sweetie didn't remember when Narci's glasses had come off in the fight and in the heat of the moment she hadn't noticed the color of her opponents eyes. Now she was admiring the soft pink hue of Narci's eyes,

"Wow! Your eyes are so pretty!" gasped Sweetie.

Wincing Narci let out a low sigh, "I would trade my pretty eyes for a pair of ugly eyes that work anytime."

Cocking her head Sweetie tried to make since of the statement,

"What do you mean by that?"

Looking away Narci just sat there gazing off in the distance,

"Have you ever heard the phrase; blind as a bat, Sweetie?"

"Uh huh" replied the now curious unicorn.

"Well for the most part it's a load of crap, but for me it holds true. I'm legally blind," slowly answered Narci, her voice slightly braking as she said the word blind.

Chapter 4

It all happened too fast. Her mind didn't register the white blur rocketing towards her or the hoof falls that rang out like thunder. All she knew was she was falling and that she was surrounded by incomparable warmth. Hitting the warm spring grass wasn't unpleasant it was like falling into a firm mattress. The world ceased to exist as she embraced the strange and comforting warmth, greedily hording it and holding it like it was hers to protect.

The two fillies lay their hugging under the lazy sun enjoying a moment of innocent bliss. Sweetie snuggled against Narci's chest as she rested her muzzle in the crook of her friend neck. Narci wasn't one for any kind of affection, but she had to admit to herself that this was nice.

"Hey Sweets?" she asked her voice still cracking.

"Hmm,"

"Why are you hugging me?"

"You looked like you needed a hug," giggled Sweetie.

"I guess I did," replied Narci.

The moment came and went as Sweetie let go and rolled off of Narci. Neither got up, they just laid there side by side enjoying the evening. A green aura captured Narci's glasses and then made its way to it owner. They gently found their way on to the bridge of Narci's muzzle,

"I'm sorry and Thanks,"

Smiling Sweetie replied,

"No I'm sorry. I know this is hard on you. Here you are in a new place and you have to stay up all day. If I had my schedule turned around I would be cranky too,".

"How do you know that my schedule is all screwy?"

"Cheerilee taught us about all the pony races a couple of months ago and I remember her saying that night-pegasi are nocturnal." replied Sweetie in a matter of fact tone.

"You really are a dictionary," said Narci flatly.

"How did you-" squeaked Sweetie.

"Ahem, How did you hear that?" she finished a full octave lower.

Laughing Narci looked over at Sweetie,

"When you can't see all that well you find ways to make up for it. I've learned to be a really good listener,".

It was Sweetie's turn to laugh,

"Well this time I'm not a dictionary. I'm an encyclopedia. And just from time I spent with you during lunch and recess I know that you don't stop talking long enough to be a good listener."

Crossing her forelegs across her chest she blew a raspberry at Sweetie. Laughing Sweetie thought of several things she that didn't make sense,

"If your blind how did you see Cheerilee's desk or which seats were empty or how did you know Silver had a cutie mark?"

Reaching down Narci plucked a particularly long blade of grass and stuck it in her mouth. Sweetie had seen Big Mac do the same thing loads of times but she couldn't help but giggle at Narci as she rolled the blade across her lips.

"I'm not blind, I am legally blind. There is a difference you know. It's like if I look at stuff with my glasses off everything is blurry and I can't tell a pony from anything else. If I put my glasses on, everything clears up. Instead of big blurry blobs I see more clearly although everything still looks fuzzy but, I can tell if something is a pony or not." she explained.

"That explains how you knew Cheerilee's desk was a desk and which desk were empty but not how you could see Silvers cutie mark."

Narci stuck her hoof against her chin as she thought about how to best explain it. Her face started to twist as she franticly searched for a easy way to explain it. She soon gave up on explaining it and settled for just showing Sweetie how it was done,

"Go and fetch your social studied book and then bring me mine from my saddle bags."

Giving Narci a funny look she obeyed. The sound of two books landing on the grass tickled at Narci's ears. She grabbed them and placed them side by side and then opened them up to the same page,

"Ok, Look at your book and then look at mine."

Immediately Sweetie spotted the difference, her book was written in modern equestrian where as Narci's book was a neat collection of arcane symbols. Turning the book around to get a better look at it she place her hoof down on the first line.

"The pre-classical age was a time of political unrest and-" heard Sweetie as the words reverberated inside her head.

"WOAH!" exclaimed Sweetie wide eyed as she realized the book transposed the magical glyphs into modern equestrian in her head.

"Cool huh," said Narci excitedly.

"Very, but that still doesn't explain how you saw Silvers cutie mark."

"All ponies can channel magic through their hooves. A unicorn can also channel energy their horn and a pegasus through her wings. Anypony can read a book like mine just by feeling with thier magic through their hooves. A cutie mark isn't just an ordinary mark, it is magical. If you spend enough time working with glyph magic you can also see another ponies cutie mark using the same method. I can't know a pony has a cutie mark unless I feel for it. When Silver called me a bland flank, I knew that she already had her cutie mark and I went from there," answered Narci.

"I didn't know you were an egg head?" said a voice from behind the two fillies. Slowly they both turned around to see Scootaloo sitting in the grass behind them.

"How long have you been listening?" Sweetie asked Scoots.

A wide smile crossed Scootaloo's face,

"Long enough to want to get a look at that book!", she said as she snatched up the glyph ridden text, "Oh, and Cheerilee said to hurry up and get done so she can go home."

Chapter 6

The previous day wasn't anything but ordinary Narci had learned. Cheerilee's had suspended the normal curriculum allowing her to get used to the class. They played games like telegraphy, where one pony whispered a sentence into the ear of another and then that pony whispered to the next and so on until it reached the end of the line. The last pony then told the class what he or she had heard. It was almost never the same what the as the originating sentence. They took turns reading from their literature books and an assortment of art projects.

By lunch Narci was now just as mentally exhausted as she was physically tired, the little bags under her eyes made her look far older that her actual age.

"I hate math!" she groaned.

AB laughed at her misery, little bits of food falling from her mouth, "Ah love math! Its the only thing that makes sense to me."

"I'm going to have to side with the bat pony on this one," said Scootaloo.

"That's only because you can barely count higher than you can fly," replied AB.

Scootaloo shot AB a venomous glare,

"Are you calling me stupid?"

Choking on her daisy sandwich Sweetie's eyes darted back and forth between her two friends,

"Everypony has subject they are good at and subject they are bad at. Just because you have a subject that you a really bad at doesn't mean you're stupid," she squeaked.

"Says Cheerilee's number one assistant!" said Scoots with a sly smile.

"Aren't you Cheerilees's number one assistant, Scootaloo?" asked Narci.

A puzzled look crossed Scootaloo's face,

"What gave you that Idea. I'm too cool to be a teachers pet." she said proudly.

Sniggering at Scootaloo choice of words Narci decided that now was not the time to be nice,

"You didn't look too cool when you were helping her collect our math worksheets before lunch when you thought nopony was watching,"

"I did not help her!" interjected the orange filly, "I was late to lunch because I had to go to the bathroom."

AB shook her head in disbelief, like her big sis she hated a liar.

"That an't true, Scootaloo. Ah was in the bathroom and Ah never saw you," she spat.

Scootaloo looked at Sweetie giving her a please help pout.

"Oh, and you didn't mind getting petted by the teacher as she told you that you were the sweetest little niece she could ask for," added Narci sarcastically.

Scootaloo crossed her forelegs in defeat as a blush started to peak through her coat,

"How do you know about that?" she muttered.

Leaning back in her seat a impish grin painted its way across Narci's face,

"Bat Ponies have really good ears!"

Scootaloo snorted in protest.

"They really do!" added Sweetie.

After lunch Cheerilee assigned her students the next chapter in their social studied book and then asked Narci to join her in the hall. The two left the classroom and sat down in the hall outside. Giving Narci a nervous smile which Cheerilee gladly returned.

"How are you adjusting, Narcissus? she asked politely.

Looking down at her hooves Narci thought about how to answer.

"You don't have to be nervous around me Narcissus, I'm a teacher, I'm not Nightmare Moon"

Narci shuttered at that comment,

"Nightmare Moon wasn't as bad as you ponies make her out to be," Narci replied coldly.

"You ponies? Are we so different from you,"

"What do you want me to say, that I'm sorry for sleeping in your class yesterday. That although I have made friends I still wished that I had another bat pony to talk to late at night when I can't sleep."

"I don't want anything from you. I just want you to be happy and healthy. I know your still adjusting to going to school during the day. But, you look really tied and I was going to ask you if you would like to take a nap in the nurses office,"

"A nap sounds really good right now," she thought. She suddenly felt bad for lashing out at the red mare,

"I'm sorry...for you know," muttered Narci.

Cheerilee pulled the little night-pegasus into a hug. Narci was hesitant at first but then sunk into the hug. The warmth only intensified her desire for sleep and she couldn't help but yawn. Cheerilee let go and then stepped away,

"Come on sleepy head."

Cheerille opened the door to the nurse's office and made up an excuse for the filly, the curry manned unicorn gave Narci a suspicious glance. Narci shrunk under the unwanted scrutiny and was about to spill her guts to the unicorn when Cheerille spoke up,

"If you can get away from Filthy's house go and visit the town library. You can go there anytime but if you go anytime after five, you might just enjoy yourself,".

Narci deadpanned, "Cheerille that's mean! Unless the library has a huge stock of glyph books or a good collection of vinyl book recordings what am I going to enjoy at the library?"

Lowering her head to Narci's ear she whispered,

"Who said anything about reading."

The CMC swung by the nurse's office an hour later to check in on their new friend. They found Narci curled into a tight little ball atop her cot. Her wing was draped over her muzzle with her eyes just peaking over the bony arm of her wing. Scootaloo steeped forward and gently raised the wing to get a look at her friends face. Narci's face was completely lax and her bat pony exclusive canines peaking out from underneath her upper lip on one side.

"Dawww! She looks so cute when she's sleeping," squeed Sweetie.

"Sweetie, you would think a timberwolf was cute if it was wearing a bow," said AB jokingly, "But, Ah'm going to have to agree with ya. She does look kinda cute when she sleeping."

Scootaloo let Narci's wing fall and then gave the other two a hard look,

"What are you two? Little Fillies!"

AB looked back at her plot and then she looked over at Sweetie's. Brushing Sweeties tail aside she and checked. A furious blush crossed Sweetie's face as AB popped her almost nonexistent personal space bubble. Looking back at Scootaloo with a wide smile,

"Eeyep!"

Facehoofing, Scootaloo looked back at the still sleeping night-pegasus, "she is cute in a cool kinda way," she thought.

"Ah think we should just let her sleep. Well come back and check on her after recess." said AB. The other three agreed and left Narci finish her nap.

Chapter 7

Silver Spoon rounded the corner on her march to the nurse's office and stood precariously close to the door. Trying her best to muster enough courage to enter the room she noticed the door knob slowly turn. In a panic she leapt to the side and hid behind the water fountain. The door was flung open and three laughing fillies made their exit. She cursed them under her breath as she watched them, the Cutie Mark Cloudcuckoolanders, turn and walk towards the front door. She waited until they had left the building before she made her move.

The as she entered the room the aroma of the previous three visitors still clung to the air. It was a sickening mix of musky spice scented body spray, cinnamon infused shampoo, and a faint hint wildflower perfume. She tried to choke down the bile that had started to creep up the back of her throat, as she noticed another scent. It was like the others it was so very delicate it would have completely eluded an untrained palate, but silver had such a palate. She had grown up the daughter of an emerging cosmetic chemist who the equestran upper crust now referred to as the premier perfumer but Silver knew her by a more sinister name, mom.

Following her nose she was brought to the cot nestled in the furthermost corner of the room. Opening her eyes she was met with the form she had been looking for previously but had completely forgot about in her search for the scents owner.

"Eep!" silently shrilled Silver as she was surprised by her discovery. Dropping down to her belly she started to regret even coming to face her tormentor. After gulping she shakily rose to eye level with the sleeping monster. The monster must have sensed an intruder because it let out a low growl, which was really just the sound of snoring as the creature unfurled and stretched out to find a more comfortable position. Logic flew at the window as Silver tried her best to not faint from the sudden act of aggression. She was still frozen in place when logic returned like the loyal knight she was to jumpstart Silvers fear griped mind. The investigator in her kept insisting something was amiss, the creature she had faced down before with the help of her friend didn't smell anything like the lithe form laying exposed before her.

The monster that haunted her nightmare had smelled like a monster. It had reeked of sweat and filth. She had always assumed that monsters not only looked evil, did evil, spoke evil they smelled evil. Perhaps there was more to the abhorrent race than she now understood. The specimen she had faced before was a dominate male and the specimen she now examined was female. This creatures musk was different. It smelt like fresh greens, hyacinth, and jasmine. It was a common enough perfume scent, it was owned by the bright and beautiful Narcissus flower.

The creature was nothing like her namesake. There was no brightness and she wasn't at all beautiful. Her ashen coat and silver mane looked like something that would be left in the wake of a forest fire. Her fleshy wings and the twin daggers that didn't quite hide behind her thin lips spoke ill of her apparent nature. Everything in her screamed to rid the world of such a monster, but for all of her hate it could not drown her fear.

Briefly her mind strayed to the source of her current predicament. Had Diamond Tiara not insisted on being the first Ponyville exchange student none of this would be happening. But Diamond being Diamond she got her way as she always did, it was in her nature to partake of the first of anything. The lack of loyalty on her companions part was slowly starting to shift the scales that judged Silvers very being in favor of the abominable prize before her.

Sitting beside the cot was a small end table. Narcissus' horn-rimmed glasses sat their looking at silver. Curiosity burned in the gray earth fillies mind so she did the only thing she could she lifted the glasses to examine them. Other than their color and the clip on shade the optics were very much like her own.

"At least she has style," mused Silver as she removed her own glasses replacing them with the bat fillies spare eyes. Her footing became unbalanced as her world suddenly became a blurry mess. That very moment she felt a deep heaviness way down her heart. It all clicked into place, the daedalus, the astronomically ridiculous prescription eye wear, and the obnoxious attitude the filly possessed. They panted a painful truth. Narcissus was near blind and her attitude was nothing more than a mask to hide a struggling soul. Silvers own fear seemed to fade away as she looked at all of the fears that Narcissus hid. Narcissus would never fly like a normal pegasus much less become a member of the Wonderbolts. It was a lofty dream holding the filly steady in a sea of impossibility. Silver didn't register the stirrings of the object of her thoughts or the big frown that had claimed her face.

"Are you going to cry, spoonbutt?" asked Narci flatly.

Silver jumped at the sudden noise. Slowly her eyes drifted to the cot her vision still blurred by glasses she wore. Looking at the blurry silhouette she removed the glasses and replaced them with her own. She was unprepared for what she saw. She hadn't expected Narci's eyes to be such a soft shade of pink,

"Your eyes are so....beautiful!" gasped Silver Spoon.

"Ugh! Why can't you ponyville fillies not pop my pride like a balloon," groaned Narci as she buried her head in her sheets.

Feeling out of place Silver started to slide towards the door when she heard the cots springs lash out in anger at a sudden assault. Her head whipped around to spot the now empty cot, her heart felt like it was trying to dig its way out of her chest as the room was filled with a sound like thunder as hooves stuck the tile floor. A cool object pressed underneath her chin and pulled her head towards its cruel master.

"Where do you think you are going with my glasses," hissed Narci as she glared into Silvers eyes, the end of her muzzle a scant few inches away from Silvers. Her wingtip pushed Silver back, Narci took a step forward and the air was filled with an unpleasant crunch.

"I'm sorry," cried Silver as she pushed her way around the bat pony and ran out the door.

Lifting her now tender hoof up she brought it closer taking in the coppery scent of her own blood. Her wing tips searched the floor beneath her for several moments until the found the twisted frame of her glasses. She lifted it up and gave it a hard look. Returning to her now injured hoof she ran her tongue over the fresh wound feeling for the glass shard imbedded in the frog of her hoof. After finding it she bit down on its end, pulled it out, and then spat the shard on the floor. She then hobbled over to her cot and feel back into its warm embrace.

After laying her now broken glasses on the end table she lay there looking at her hoof. Like an injured dog she kept licking the wound, letting the healing properties of night-pegasus saliva work its magic.

"First my dad insists on me leaving home to see if I can screw up somepony else's home life, then my daedalus gets shipped to the wrong town, and now I've broken my glasses. The only thing I can do right is waste time." she sighed.

Chapter 8

After recess Cheerilee made her way back to the nurses office to check on her newest student. After pushing open the door she was met by the sight of Nurse Twistheart applying a bandage to Narci's hoof. A flash of fear crossed her face as she thought about one of her students getting hurt. Pushing the nurse aside Cheerilee felt a sudden need to watch out for the little filly.

"Your not hurt too....Wow!' muttered Cheerilee as she noticed that Narci wasn't wearing her glasses, "Your eyes their so-".

"Don't say it!" said Narci as she placed her uninjured hoof against Cheerliee's lips. Suddenly she flushed as what she had done caught up to her. Slowly she removed her hoof with a guilty look on her face,

"eh hee! Sorry about that!" she squeaked.

"It's all right this once," replied Cheerilee.

Looking at her now bandaged foot she could help but look at the nurse out of the corner of her eye, "It was just a little cut. I don't think this nurse knows what she is doing," she thought. The young nurse fidgeted the roll of gauze she had used to wrap her patient's hoof up.

After spotting the now busted pair of glasses Cheerilee eyed the bat filly raising an eyebrow in question,

"What happened to your glasses?"

"I...uh...wore them to sleep and they sorta fell off my face and I guess I must have rolled on them during the uh...nap," she lied.

"I see. How did you hurt your hoof then?" retorted the red mare.

Beads of sweat started to form on Narci's brow. Biting her lip she tried to come up with a good excuse, one that put her at blame and not anypony else. It was her fault, but she didn't want Cheerilee to punish Silver Spoon for her part in the destruction. For a moment she questioned her reasoning, why did she feel like she needed to protect Silver,

"I stepped on them when I raised up a few minutes ago. Yeah, that's how I cut my hoof," she replied as she placed her hoof down in emphasis.

A wicked little smile crossed the nurses lips,

"Miss Narcissus?"

"Uh, yes Ms. Twistheart?"

"If you broke your glasses on the cot why did I find shards of glass by the door?"

Her eyes shot open as it dawned on her that her lie didn't match with the evidence,

"I got mad when I realized I broke my glasses,so I threw them across the room," she said in a mock angry tone.

The two adults looked at the filly with a scrutinizing gaze,

"I buy it!" cheerfully replied the teacher.

Letting out a sigh of relief Narci reached for her glasses, looking over the twisted frame and shattered eye pieces she groaned. "It will take a couple days for ma to ship my spare glasses here," she thought.

"Nurse Twistheart? Do you know a repair spell?" asked Cheerilee.

"Oh, yes! If all the pieces are in the room I think I can fix them up in a jiffy." chirped the Nurse. Her horn gave off a orange glow as she pulled the glasses from Narci's grip. The glasses drifted just out of her reach as the frames twisted back into their original shape and the glass started to fill the eyes pieces one piece at a time like a delicate jig saw puzzle. A moment latter the orange glow descended and plopped the glasses down into Narci's waiting hooves. After running her hoof across the eye pieces she noticed a small hole in the left piece,

"They're not completely fixed," she wined.

"Hmm I guess one of the shards must be out of my spell range," remarked the nurse.

Narci put on the glasses and looked around the room, the hole didn't matter much.

"Thanks Nurse Twistheart, I can see out of them just fine. Hole or not." said Narci trying to make the best of her situation.

"Your welcome little miss, but try to be more careful next time."

Cheerilee helped Narci off the cot and then ushered her to the door,

"Do you feel like returning to class?"

"Um huh," replied Narci.

They were half way the classroom when Narci stepped on something gritty. Stopping in her tracks she lifted her uninjured hoof and examined the sandy grit. Her nose was assaulted with the smell of blood, her face fell as she realized the possibility.

"The missing shard from my glasses, Silver Spoon must have stepped on it just like I did." she said under her breath. Her stomach suddenly twisted up in a knot. Sure she didn't particularly like Silver Spoon, but she never wished the filly harm.

"Miss Cheerilee? May I go the little fillies room first?" she asked shrilly.

The teacher turned around and gave Narci a wide smile,

"Sure, but don't be too long."

Narci trotted to the restroom and then washed the blood off of her hoof,

"I can't go back to class. I won't be able to look at Silver. I shouldn't have treated her that way. She was just curious. How often does a night-pegasi, especially one as awesome as me come to Ponyville? Never!"

A slight breeze entered the room and tickled Narci's coat. Searching for the source of the air flow Narci discovered a half open window across from one of the stalls. It was small, but Narci was smaller.

A few desperate moments latter Narci fell the short distance from the window to the ground,

"Oof!" she groaned as her bottom met grass. Dropping down to her belly she crawled forward and hid behind the hedge row that bordered this side of the school. The only pony in sight was Mr. Greenhooves who was watering a flower bed off to her left. She knew for speaking to him early that morning that he was hard of hearing and that if she was quiet she could sneak passed him with no problems. The only thought that worried her was how Ms. Cheerilee was going to react to one of her students skipping the last few hours of school. Dismissing the fear she recieted her favorite catchphrase,

"You only live once!"

Chapter 9

Getting back to Diamonds Tiara's house was hard an ordeal. The previous three trips back and forth between the school had been made with the guiding hoof of Ms. Dandelion. Two skinned knees and a dozen or so offers to help later she found herself in the foyer of the Rich house. She was greeted by the stiff lipped cobalt blue unicorn that served the household as the residence as the majordomo,

"Good after noon little miss! What brings you home so early from your studies?" he asked in his gravely voice.

Narci looked at the hazy blue stallion over trying to gage his gullibility,

"I got started to feel sick so with Ms. Cheerilee's permission and the school nurse's approval they decided to send my home to rest," she gracefully lied.

A hoof bushed against her cheek as he looked her over,

"Well if that is the case run on up to your room and I'll send Ms. Dandelion up to check on you shortly," he said flatly.

Narci walked up the stairwell slowly trying her best to act the part of sick filly. After she reached the next floor she cut right and walked down the hallway to her room. Plopping down on the plush bed she raised her hoof up to her muzzle and then ran her tongue over the gash. It was caked over with dried blood but the pain hand long since faded leaving her with just a numb sensation. She sighed as she thanked herself for doing away with the bandage before getting too far from the school. It was too conspicuous and drew to much attention and besides she was playing sick not hurt.

Her ears swiveled forward as the sound of hooves approached from outside. The door slowly opened and Dandelion strolled in balancing a tray on her back. Something about the maniacal grin that adorned the yellow mare's face made Narci suddenly feel very uneasy.

"Diamond Tiara is almost never sick. You don't know how much of a treat this is going to be," Dandelion cooed.

The burning warmth still gripped Narci's cheeks as she understood why Diamond never got sick. Diamond got as sick as any filly but she must have learned to hide it in Dandelion's presence. Most of the maid's diagnostic techniques weren't too extreme. When the thermometer fist came out Narci wasn't too concerned; but when the mare flipped her over onto her stomach and inserted the gadget all of that changed.

She was given a clean bill of health so the mare had concluded the only thing she could, that Narci was just tired so she left the filly in peace. The gray filly shuttered at the traumatic experience the mare had put her through,

"I'm in the fifth grade! Why did that cheerful witch check my temperature the foal way?" she groaned.

The bandages that wrapped both of her skinned knees and the fresh bandage that clung gingerly to her hoof all itched. Laying the bed she tried to force her self to sleep but the sheets had entangled her body and held her prone before her growing guilt. The look on Silver's face and the lack of regard she had for her teacher seeped down into her soul and prodded at her core. A tear slipped from its prison trudging its way across the no ponies' land and down the face of its world eventually splattering on the warm sea of cotton below.

Bolting up right Narci slid off the bed and shook the sadness away with a loud huff. Her eyes darted back and forth looking for her saddle bags when it struck her like a bolt of lightening, that she had forgotten her gear. All of her lies were apparent. If what she had told were true she would have brought all of her stuff home but she hadn't. If the butler and the maid hadn't already discovered her lie they would soon find out.

Peering out her window she cursed herself at her lack of sight. There wasn't an easy way to judge the distance from her second story room and the ground. But, that was the only way she could leave without alerting the staff. Inching the window open she pulled herself on to the window sill and took a deep breath. Coiling she prepared to leap when she heard a trio of voice below.

"Ah still think we should let her rest. Ms. Cheerilee did say that she was sick," Said AB from behind the other two fillies.

Scootaloo wheeled around and eyed the yellow filly, "Sick or not Cheerilee will puck my feathers and use them for stuffing if I don't deliver this not to Mr. Filthy,".

"Ssshh! Be quiet Scootaloo!" gasped Sweetie Belle as she stuck her hoof in Scootaloo's mouth. Tears of pain leaked from Scootaloo's eyes as she pulled the hoof out.

"Yuck!", she spat, "Don't you ever wash you hooves, Sweeite?"

"Yes, several times a day. Which is more than I can say about you." she finished as she suck her tongue out at the orange filly.

"Bwa ha ha!" chortled AB, "Sweeite gets in one fight and suddenly she's brave as a pony with a torch fighting timberwolves."

Puffing her chest out proudly Sweetie gave AB a wide smile. Scootaloo quickly poked the unicorns belly and watched as the pride flowed out like air from a busted balloon, "I'm so scared of Sweetie Belle, the glass cannon."

"I'm not a glass cannon!" spat Sweetie.

"Oh really, the last time we played Stables and Drakes your Spell Song Sorcerer sure ran off screaming like a frightened filly when that goblin knight got close enough to hit you with its plus three long sword," teased Scoots.

"Ah think that was different, Scoots. That was a game. Ah like Sweetie Belle 2.0," said AB as she stepped between the two, "And Ah sometimes think that you live in your head a little too much,".

The two argued back and forth while Sweetie slunk away and knocked on the door.

"Can I help you!" asked the butler loud enough to catch the two bickering fillies off guard. AB and Scoots gave the butler a black stare. The three of them stood their mouth agape at the huge blue stallion.

Backing off the sill Narci sat on the floor, "I'll have to thank Cheerilee for not telling them the truth later. If they knew that I skipped class Sweets wouldn't let me live it down, AB and Scoots would be worshiping the very ground I walk on. I don't think I would like that kind of attention." she thought.

Soon the sound of approaching hooves grew louder and the three fillies entered each wearing I different mask. Sweetie's looked concerned. AB looked like she was going to burst into flames as she violated the inner sanctum of her hated enemy, Diamond Tiara. And Scootaloo? Scootaloo just looked board.

"Hi, girls!" was all Narci could say before Sweetie dived forward and gave her a big hug. "This is getting ridiculous!" thought Narci as she returned the hug.

Chapter 10

After the awkwardly long hug Narci gave the trio a big smile,

"What are you doing here?"

Sweetie lower her head and then pouted,

"I... uh... We were worried about you," she answered sheepishly.

"Were not!" spat Scootaloo as she pushed Sweetie, her blush being a dead give away to her true feelings.

Stepping forward Apple Bloom reached back and pulled the saddle bags off her back and plopped them on the floor in front of Narci,

"Well you can't do your homework without knowing what it is and you left all of your stuff at school so we decided we would bring it too you,".

AB's down to earth logic was one of her most enduring qualities, Narci mentally noted. She leaned forward and nuzzled AB's cheek. The sudden act of affection caught the yellow filly of guard as she flinched at the sudden touch, but she returned the gesture. The two of them jerked around at the and giggled at the gagging noises that Scootaloo had started to make. AB and Narci shared a impish look just before the pounced the Pegasus and began to hug the stuffing out of her. Letting out a loud squee Sweetie joined the everypony hug Scootaloo party.

Silver had been invited in moments after the CMC. She made chitchat with a couple of maids and had managed to talk the butler, a stallion named Bold Blizzard into a game of chess. It was no secret that she spent more time at Diamond Tiara's house than her own. And just because Diamond wasn't at home Silver wasn't about to change her usually schedule. Briefly she wondered about how Diamond was doing. But that line of thought ended as the CMC descended from the floor above.

AB was the first to spot the gray filly,

"What are you doing here, Silver Spoon!" she spat.

She had expected hostility and she there was nothing more than she wanted to do than put the farm pony in her place but her needs gave her perspective,

"Apple Bloom, I'm sorry!"

"You an't got Diamond to protect you I should....what?" replied AB as her angry boasting petered out and gave way to confusion.

Silver castled and then got up from the chest table allowing Mr. Blizzard more time to think about his next move,

"I said I'm sorry! And that goes to all of you," She said as her eyes fell to the floor.

Scootaloo rushed down the steps and bumped chest with the gray earth filly,

"What are playing at, Silverbutt?"

Plopping down on her haunches Silver couldn't look the orange filly in the eye,

"I'm not playing at anything," she said as looked up, "My friend, my only friend left me three days ago now and I'm so alone. I want to make other friends so I don't have to be alone. The first step in doing that is learning how to make friends again. And seeing as you are all sisters and friends of the Elements of Harmony you would all make great teachers. Please teach me how to be somepony's friend." she finished as she wrapped Scootaloo in a hug.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walked down the steps and flanked Silver on both sides. Letting Scootaloo go she gave the other too a nervous glance.

"If you are sincere, Ah'll give you a chance if you will meet me half way," Said AB with a big grin, "And this sure as hay better not be something temporary. Ah won't forgive you if you return to your bully ways as soon as Diamond get back."

Giving AB a polite nod she looked first at Scootaloo who gave her a short,

"Fine!"

Next she looked too Sweetie Belle, the only filly who still hadn't said a word. Sweetie had more reasons than either of her friends to hate Silver. She was the filly that got the most flak from the duo of Silver and Diamond because she had a habit of crying instead of fighting back,

"Well Sweetie Belle can you forgive me?" asked Silver hopefully.

"No." she squeaked.

Her shoulders sunk as Sweetie turned and walked towards the door. She flung the door open and then started to walk out the door. Silver looked at the other two with pleading eyes. AB just shook her head. Scootaloo gave silver a half smile and then followed Sweetie, with AB on her heels. All of Silvers hopes vanished and she fell into a fit of sobs.

Spinning around Sweetie gave Silver a predatory glare just before she dug her hooves into the tile floor and rushed towards the sobbing filly.

"Horse Apples!" muttered AB

"Pony Feathers!" said Scoots as the two of them watched as Sweetie come to a sudden stop short of Silver and rear up on her hind legs. "She going to buck her in the face," thought Scootaloo as she watched Sweetie's hooves rush forward to meet Silvers face but at the last moment the curved around the gray fillies head and pulled her into a hug. Silver let out a surprised,

"Eep!" as she was pulled into the hug. The hug lasted a few moments and then Sweetie released it and sat down. She gave the soggy faced Silver a weak smile,

"I can't forgive you just yet. But, I can't let you be sad either. So, I'm going to be nice to you. If you learn how to be a friend I'll count you among my friends. If you buck this up, you will have to live with yourself knowing that Diamond is the only friend you will ever make."

"A chance is all I could ever ask of you after how me and Diamond treated you. Thank you!" weakly replied Silver.

On that note the CMC left Silver to her devices. Drying her tears Silver looked up the stairs and took a deep breath. The hardest part was over she hoped as she ascended the stair to face the next hurdle.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shared a worried glance. Scootaloo whispered to AB,

"Sweetie Belle is just like Fluttershy, sweet but scary."

AB nodded in agreement,

"It's the nice one you have to worry about." she added.

Chapter 11

She had walked up those stairs so many times before and never had they seemed so large. Each small step felt like she had marched a mile. As she toped the stairs she looked down the hall to Diamond Tiara's room, and the hall too had taken on the same dimensions as the stairwell. It seemed impossibly long but she walked it as fear started to build. Standing before the ivory door she had to push all of the mixed feelings that were welling up inside her down. Grimacing in resignation she raised a hoof to the door and knocked. A few moments passed before she heard a smoky voice on the other side of the divide,

"Come in!"

Easing open the door Silver was bombarded with the other fillies scent her eyes fell on the shadow form sprawled out on the bed, Diamond Tiara's bed. Suddenly she was filled with disgust as she the monstrous form had sullied the sanctity of her friends bed, a bed that she had shared during many of their sleep overs.

Diamond was a hard pony to know but once you did know her you realized that she wasn't the brash bully that she appeared to be. She was hard and yet soft. Loyal to the core..."Loyal, something I don't think I am" Silver thought as she went over the events that had moments earlier transpired down stairs. Silver promised herself that when Diamond got back things would be different. That she would teach Diamond what she learned from the CMC and perhaps what she would learn from Narcissus.

Focusing on the filly in the bed she was struck by an odd sight. The bat filly was wearing a blue and yellow t-shirt modeled after the Wonderbolt's uniform. It gave the her a softer edge. It gave Silver credence as she realized that the filly was still just a filly, no more a monster than she herself was.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to say something, spoonbutt?" said Narci in a playful tone.

Silver opened her mouth to speak and then closed it. Nothing made since anymore. The recent truths didn't match with what she previously held to be true and she was in unexplored territory. She sat down and pulled her saddle bag off of her back and pulled it in front of her. She reached in as Narci spoke again,

"How's the hoof?" she asked with a hint of concern in her voice. Silver shuttered under the absurdity of the question, "Does she really care?" she thought as she pulled up her other hoof to look at the small bandage that adhered to the fleshy frog of her hoof.

"It's ok. It was only a scratch." she answered her voice wavering. Narci held out her own bandaged hoof and then giggled. Silver couldn't help but get wrapped up in the bat fillies mirth. Returning to her saddle bags she pulled out kaolin jar with little blue cranes embossed on its surface. She rose to her feet and took it over to the bed setting in gingerly between Narcissus' forelegs.

"What's this?" questioned Narci.

"It's my savings, all of my saving. I want you to have it. You can buy a new pair of glasses to the replace the pair that I broke." she answered with a smile.

"What pair?" said Narci teasingly as held out her leather wing. Her almost perfect glasses dangling from its tip.

Silver's eyes widened at the sight of the glasses, "How? How are they not broken?"

With her other wing tip she flipped the clip on sunshield up revealing the small hole in one of the lenses,

"It's not completely fixed but Nurse Twistheart knew a spell to fix stuff and she fixed it to the best of her ability. I didn't even know unicorns could even do that," she said in awe.

"I didn't either," she said sharing the same sense of wonder, "Now I'm kind of jealous of Sweetie Belle."

"You and me both," agreed Narcissus.

Sitting up Narci admired the smooth white form that sat on her bed. She ran her hooves over it and then gave it a little wiggle. Inside she could feel the bits slosh from side to side and she realized too that it was almost full. For the briefest of moments she thought about thanking Silver for her homage but she dismissed the greedy idea as she turned to Silver.

"I can't accept this," she said as she placed her hoof on the vessels lid.

"It's a gift, I want you to have it. I owe you that much for my part in the breaking of your glasses and for how I treated you yesterday," she said reinforcing her earlier words.

"No!" said Narci shaking her head. After sitting her glasses on the end table she lifted the ornate piggy bank and set it beside her glasses. Patting the spot beside her she beckoned the gray earth pony to sit beside her. Silver was hesitant but she obeyed. The two of them sat there looking across the room at the opposing wall.

"I'm sorry that your best friend had to leave so that I could come," muttered Narci.

Silver turning to the filly beside her she noticed the hurt look on Narci's face,

"How? How did you know Diamond Tiara was my best friend?

Laughing Narci leaned against Silver. Silver let her rest against her but she felt silently violated as a blush started to peak from under her gray coat. She didn't know if she was blushing because of the contact or blushing in anger.

"I hear stuff from the kids at school, from Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and the ponies that work for Mr. Rich," she replied flatly.

"Well I guess it isn't too terribly hard to figure out," chuckled Silver nervously.

"Do you really want to give me something for what you did to me?" asked Narci.

"Yes Narciss-" she started to say.

"Its Narci!" spat Narcissus, "My parents were expecting a boy, after eight other daughters so the named me Narcissus. I always hated it. I know I'm a tomcolt but I am a filly and I would like to be addressed as such."

"Ok, Narci-I would like to give you something to make up for it all."

Stretching out her hoof Narci locked forelegs with Silver, and gazed into Silvers violet eyes.

"Be my friend!" she whispered.

Silver squeed,

"Its like beauty and the beast, if they were friends and not lovers!"

"What?" said Narci who was thoroughly confused.

"Oh, its nothing," replied Silver as she gave the bat pony a hug.

Chapter 12

The two fillies were just finishing up their home work when Ms. Dandelion came up to let them know that dinner was ready. So the two skipped down to the dinning room. They were met by Mr. Rich's hard gaze. Narci started to ask if Silver could stay for dinner when Silver flashed her a almost terrified look,

"I'll come over for dinner some other time ok bye."

Narci watched the her new friend canter out of the dinning room and into the foyer. A moment latter the sound of door shutting found it way back into the dinning room. She couldn't understand what had prompted the filly to leave so suddenly. They had both agreed that Silver would stay for supper. Had Silver seen something that she had missed, it was very possible given her limitations. She soon found her seat and told Morning Song's apprentice, a red coated stallion named Fast Boil, what she would like on her plate. It was weird having somepony else fixing her plate but she didn't mind. Mr. Boil sat her plate down and then stepped back to await his next order.

There was something wrong, Narci could feel it. The air was thick with tension and she concluded that Mr. Rich had been informed of her early departure from school. Feeling guilty she open her mouth to come clean when Mr. Rich spoke,

"How well do you know the history of Equestria?" he asked coyly.

After taking a sip of water Narci grinned,

"I don't know a lot, but history is one of my favorite subjects."

"Well then explain to me the history of the Commonwealth of Nocturnia," he more or less ordered.

Narci suddenly felt pressured and started to quiver in her seat.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Just do as I told you." he said harshly.

Gulping Narci started to explain,

"After many years of persecution for their part in the Long Night Rebellion the Night-Pegasi went to Princess Celestia for help. The told her of their plight. No settlement, no city, no township would allow the bat ponies to settle down and raise their families. Long had they been vagabonds, beggars and nomads so the Princess in her divine wisdom granted them boon. A charter was written and the Night-Pegasi were given a large expanse of land on the east side of the Everfree Forest." She took a moment to take a drink and take a bite from her plate and then she started again.

"In the three-hundred and seventy third year after the banishment the Commonwealth of Nocturnia was born. The commonwealth is a self-governing body that resides within the boarders of her mother, Equestria. All of her citizens are technically citizens of Equestria. The citizens of Nocturnia may join the military of Equestria as well as serve in any number civil service jobs. The same cannot be said of Equestrian citizens wishing to reside and work in Nocturnia. They must obtain passports and work visas in order to cross the boarder." she finished, "Do you want me to go on?"

Smiling he politely said,

"No, that will be enough."

Letting the issue rest he allowed her to finish eating. Dinner was a quiet affair after that as the two faded into their own worlds. A while later she spoke up,

"May I be excused?"

Shooting her an angry glare,

"No we have more to discuss,"

"Ok, what do you want to talk about?" she asked nonchalantly.

"I want to talk about why you are here," he answered.

"I'm a exchange student just like your daughter."

He smirked,

"The reason you are here is because I want you here, little miss."

She inched closer to him as she giving him a confused look.

"When Ponyville was first attained approval for an foreign exchange student program there were two kids ahead of you in the line up. My daughter expressed her desire to study abroad and who was I to deny her that. However, the other two kids wouldn't benefit me."

"That selfish!" spat Narci.

He raised an eye brow at her outburst and then bolted from his chair and around the table. Before Narci could react he was behind her,

"In this world there are ponies who are happy with their station and there are ponies like me whose very life goal is to be better. The first kid was a griffon brat and the griffon nation is still dreadfully far away. I would love to spread my business into griffon lands but that for now is too ambitious a dream. The second was lovely little minotaur filly. Again her homeland was also far away for me to dare venture. And then their was you. I've been trying to break in the Nocturnian market for several years now but Equestrian law is very limiting. You my dear are my ticket to grander schemes." he said exuberantly.

His flare for the dramatic combined with his horrible glee was unnerving but despite her fear she had to know,

"What is my part to play in this-scheme and how did I get here if there were others ahead of me?"

He tousled her mane with his hoof and let out a chuckle,

"I told you that I thought you would make a great business pony one day and your nitty gritty curiosity proves it. Your part is simple in fact, I just need you to keep your nose clean. And by keeping you nose clean I mean, no more skipping school or anything like that," he said as he pulled out a letter from his coat pocket letting it fall to the table, "I don't need the Ponyville PTA complaining about you being a bad influence and in turn I don't need anything sullying my reputation. The Nocturnian revenue and business board are all set to approve the opening the first, Rich's Barnyard Bargains in Gothic City. All of this hangs on your delicate shoulders. Deal me a solid kid, and be sure to let your mommy know how much you appreciate my hospitality. I'll make it worth while."

It seemed simple enough, it was a calculative move on his part and if she did what he said she would be rewarded. Still she wondered how she had been placed ahead of the two children before her,

"You still didn't say how I was chosen ahead of those other kids."

He reached into his coat and pulled out a silk bag and chunked it on the table. It jingled with the sound of gold bits as it rolled,

"Money my dear, money can buy anything. Money can make your dreams come true," he answered as he drew closer to her ear, "Money can even pay for expensive new treatments that are far to expensive for a guard captains or a government employee's salary. Treatments that could in time, give you what you want the most- your sight."

"Really!" she gasped.

"Really, really kid. Oh, and more thing. You can't go blabbing about our deal. If anypony knows about our agreement things can get kinda ugly." he added.

"I won't tell a soul," she promised.

Author's Note

This chapter came out of nowhere as I was brain storming ideas but it created a need for a necessary edit in chapter two to make this chapter work. But if you don't want to back and ready chapter 2 here is the deal. Narci's mother, Night Lilly, is a senior member of the Nocturnian Revenue and Business Board.

Chapter 13

Ms. Dandelion had just led Narci out the door when the were bet by two fillies. They were standing together but the distance between them didn't bode well for their blossoming friendship.

"Ms. Dandelion, I belief we can escort Narci from here," rung the crystal voice of Silver Spoon.

Sweetie Belle eyed the gray filly suspiciously,

"Uh, yeah! Ms. Dandelion, we want to walk her to school," added Sweetie.

Neither of the fillies had noticed as Narci sank behind the yellow mare, "This is just embarrassing! I've tried to avoid them knowing that I need somepony to help me get to school," she thought. She hadn't registered that Dandelion had turned back to the door until she felt a hoof brush against her flanks,

"Go along now Miss Narcissus! Don't keep your friends waiting."

Sighing Narci trotted up to the couple. The blurry white form met her half way and gave her a nuzzle,

"What's wrong? Did you not sleep well?" asked Sweetie in a concerned voice. Before she could answer she felt a foreleg wrap around her neck,

"He wasn't too hard on you last night, was he?" asked Silver. This prompted a questioning look from Sweetie. She didn't want to talk about her conversation with Mr. Rich knowing she couldn't say anything about it without revealing their deal.

"I slept fine," she lied, "And he was just bad because Ms. Cheerilee sent him a note letting him know I skipped class." A deep blush flared to life on her cheeks. While trying to hide one lie another had mad its way to the surface.

"You skipped class!" the other two said in unison.

Narci sighed again as she looked towards Sweetie,

"That's so, risqué!" sung Sweetie. Narci couldn't help but laugh. She had been expecting Sweetie to chastise her for breaking the rules but Sweetie seemed to think it was cool. Silvers foreleg slipped off of Narci's neck and she walked away.

Sweetie and Narci watched the gray filly take a few steps and then sit down. A frown started to form on Narci's face as she started wonder about how Silver now viewed her. The only reason she had skipped class was because she could face Silver. Waltzing up beside the gray filly Narci was caught off guard when Silver wheeled around to look at her. A few moments passed and she heard low whisper,

"You want to do it again?"

The previous nights conversation with Mr. Rich flashed through her mind with a special emphasis on the keeping her nose clean part. However the thrill of it all washed away her budding doubt,

"Hey Sweetie, how would you like a rule breaking cutie mark?"

Sweetie nervously pawed at the ground,

"It would be cool I guess!"

And so the three head off to enjoy the forbidden fruit.

Knowing that they had to stay out of sight the three carefully made their way to the Cutie Mark Crusader's Club house. They had just gotten settled in when they heard the tardy bell ring off in the distance.

"Well what are we going to do today?" asked Sweetie who was having a hard time thinking of how to spend the unplanned midweek break.

Rummaging through her saddle bags Silver pulled out some coloring books,

"We could color!" she said flourishing a box of crayons.

"Nah! That isn't exiting enough. And besides I have a hard time staying inside the lines with my eye sight," said Narci.

Sweetie wasn't listening and had already begun to flip through on of the coloring books,

"It's not like we can do much, we don't want to be caught by any grown ups."

Huffing at the last remark a edge crept into Narci's voice,

"How about we check out those caves that Scootaloo was talking about?"

Wide eyed Sweetie glanced at Narci,

"Caves are no place to go without somepony knowing that you going in them," she said with a grin. She thought that line of logic would end Narci's crazy talk.

"We can just leave a not here. I'm sure that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo will find it if we are late getting back." cajoled Narci with a confident grin.

"I agree with Sweetie," added Silver which caused a faint smile to cross her lips, "A cave is no place to go without adult supervision."

"What are the two of you, little fillies," mocked Narci.

The phrase echoed in Sweeties mind as she remembered the uncomfortable experience she had endured at the first utterance of those words so she pressed her tail as firmly against her body as she could. This time her bubble wasn't popped. Silver groaned at the phrase, although she was a little filly she hated that idiom or any thing like it. It constantly reminded her of what her mother would say as she pushed Silver out of her laboratory. Silver just wanted to help but her mother would always tell her she was to young to help and that if she wanted to help her the best way she could do it was do get out of her mane.

"I'll do it!" squeaked Silver.

Green eyes darted back and forth between the two gray fillies and then Sweetie let out a sigh of resignation,

"Cutie Mark Crusader spelunkers, yay!" she said flatly. "Even without Scootaloo and Apple Bloom I still get talked into doing something dangerous. Why can't I get dragged into doing something less likely to kill me." she thought.

The walk from the club house to the Whitetail Woods was a dangerous undertaking. Compared to their earlier foray into the adult ridden world the trek was fraught with danger. They would have been caught by Applejack had Silver not tackled the other two carting the three into the cover of a trailside holly bush. And that had been a mistake. Silver's talent was cooking not identifying prickly bushes. All three of them squirmed in discomfort with Narci muttering a few non-foal approved curse words. They waited until the orange farm pony was out of earshot before they attempted to extricate themselves from their sharp leafed captor.

"Ow ow ow OW!" wined Sweetie as the holly's sharp tipped leaves pulled at her mane.

Silver was having a similar problem but she opted for a less vocal method of complaining, she grunted at the evil plant.

They were taunted from Narci who had already freed herself form the bushes grasp,

"If your hair causes the two of you so much trouble why don't you get a shorter mane cut like me. It's easier to wash and is perfect for a rough and rumble life style."

Finally free of the bush Sweeites hair looked like it belonged to punk rocker and not the more docile and frou frou filly,

"If you hadn't been talking so much we would have heard AJ long before we did. Its your fault that Silver had to knock us into that prickly bush" she said bitterly.

Silver popped out of the bush and currently was pulling the end of her ponytail out the push in vain,

"Girls would you help me please," she pleaded.

Sweetie and Narci flanked the filly and tugged on the silver rope, the extra force was all that was needed as it rebounded with a snap right into Silvers muzzle. The three crashed to the ground with a combined,

"Oof!"

Pulling the tip of her ponytail up to her muzzle with one hoof as the other rubbed her now sore nose she surveyed the damage. Her beautiful mane was frayed at its tips. Almost to the point of tears she was stoked in the direction of another emotion as giggles erupted in the air around her. And despite the tragedy of her now uneven mane she couldn't help but join the other two fillies in their hysterics.

Chapter 14

The mouth of the cave wasn't what the three fillies were expecting. Sweetie Belle looked at the small hand dug hole with contempt. It was nothing like the mammoth cavities described in several of the Daring Doo books. The entrance was barely big enough for an adult pony to squeeze through and large ponies like Apple Blooms brother Big Mac couldn't even hope to wiggle their massive forms into the passage. Sliver cautiously approached the muddy gate and took in a large whiff of its dank mildew like odor.

"It smells dreadful," she gaged.

Coiling her wing Narci snapped it towards Sweetie popping the white filly on her flank. Jumping out of her skin Sweetie whirled around and eyed Narci dangerously,

"What was that for?" she yelled behind gritted teeth.

Laughing she slipped closer to Sweetie,

"I just wanted to get you fired up is all," snipped Narci, "I don't want my favorite filly to lose her edge if she is going to have my back down the bowls of the earth."

"I thought I was your..." trailed off Silver with a dejected tone.

"Both of you are my wingless wing-ponies," jeered the batty filly as she puffed up her chest and threw out her wings trying to inspire her hesitant cohorts.

Looking into the grinning mouth of the abyss aroused a longing in Narci's heart. Much like bats the night-pegasi often made their homes in cave early on, although most bat ponies had adjusted to living in regular houses they often gravitated to the damp and warm caves in leisure. The small mouthed cavern wasn't like any cave that the little bat filly had seen before, but it was a cave and that was all that mattered.

After fastening a rope to a near by tree Sweetie carried the rest of the coil over to the cave entrance she then tossed it down the sloping precipice watching as it fell out of sight,

"How...How big do you think this cave is, Narci?" she asked thinly.

"I don't know? Hold on a sec and I'll check" she answered as she approached the entrance. Sweetie and Silver watched as Narci fell to her belly, crept to the edge and stuck her head in. She quickly witdrew and removed her glasses tossing them to Silver,

"Put them in my saddle bag, I'm not going to need them down there!" After the quick exchange she stuck her head in again and let out a almost non-existent high whistle as she rolled her ears forward. Sweetie cringed at the sound as it dug into her skull but Silver's expression never changed,

"What are you doing?" asked Silver.

Narci held a hoof up,

"Ssshh, Silver!"

Silver zipped her lips and watched as a wide smile started to form on Narci's face. Leaping to her feet in glee Narci swung around to explain what she was doing and what she had found.

"I was pinging! And to answer Sweets, its pretty big from what I can tell?"

Sweetie sunk, she had been hoping that it was just a small cave.

"How do you know how big it is and what is pinging?" asked Silver.

Before Narci could answer Sweetie droned,

"Pinging is the active use of sound by a sonar system or creature that can be analyzed for echo return patterns to judge the size, shape, and features of the area pinged."

"How else do you think I was able to leap from my cot in the nurses office twist over your head and land right in front of you. Without crashing into you or the floor." added Narci.

Smiling Silver finally understood and she couldn't help put tease her new friend,

"So you really are a bat."

Sweetie and Narci both gave her a deadpan look just before they exploded into a fit of giggles. After that Narci approached the cave entrance and took the rope in her hooves. She gave the other too one final brave look and she started to descend into the heart of darkness.

After passing through the slick limestone shaft Narci found herself in a much larger antechamber. Its walls were thick with calcified scare tissue. The bulbous protrusions that looked like what was left of a burnt out candle stuck out at odd angles from the walls. The low roof was held in place by great pillars of limestone covered with more of the calcium scale. It was marvelous and she felt more at home there in the dark world than any where else she had ever been.

Illuminating the dark were two lights both of which were strapped to the head of her fellow explorers. The clopping of hooves reverberated off the walls and warm feelings tugged at Narci's soul as she heard the "oohs" and "ahhs" of the other two fillies. Sweetie strode up to one of the pillars and run a hoof across its surface expecting it to be wet. Withdrawing her hoof she looked down at it to see that it was indeed dry. Silver was likewise examining another formation that clung to the sloping wall to their left. Rock jutted out and flowed down the face looking like water frozen in time, under her breath she called it's name,

"Flowstone."

Eager to discover more interesting formations the trudged deeper into the black. Silver and Sweetie started to walk to the larger of the rooms two passages when Narci called out,

"Hey! We can check out that way later lets go down this side passage." she said pointing to the diagonal gashed opening. Exchanging looks they joined Narci. Unlike the passage they wanted to take this passage was oppressively small. Stifling a gasp Silver fought off her growing claustrophobia. The passage smelled older than the rest of the cave and its walls were caked over with spider web shaped fungi. The passage seemed to go on forever but the sound of running water and a growing dampness egged them on.

Stopping in her tracks Narci let out a loud, gasp. Pushing the bat filly out of her way Sweetie had to see what had made Narci stop. She was equally as dumbfounded as her friend. She raised a hoof and rapidly waved for Silver to come and see. Before them was a stone bridge but that wasn't what the others were looking at. Following Sweeties eyes her eyes fell on a majestic waterfall that sprung near the roof of the cave its water cascading down forty or so feet to a large pool below them. They stood there gazing at the waterfall wearing matching smiles as they felt like they were explorers discovering a new world.

Chapter 15

The roar of the waterfall lent the shrouded world a magical atmosphere. The bridge loomed over head and now they sat on the banks of the underground stream. Milky white fish and crustaceans flittered beneath the dark waters. Overhead stalactites hung forever divided from the floor below it.

Silver had spread out a blanket she had pilfered from the club house and the three fillies were sitting up on it, enjoying each others company. Sweeties had filled her bags with stuff she thought they might need: like extra rope, flashlights, pitons, and a small first-aid kit. Silver wasn't well as well equipped, besides the blanket she still had a few coloring books, a box of crayons, and a bag of goodies from Sugarcube Corner. Narci's stomach let out a little rumble which made Silver smile. Pulling out the goodie bag she watched as Sweetie's eyes went wide,

"Is that what I think it is!" she happily squeaked. Narci edged closer to bag only to be swatted away by Silver's hoof.

"It is." she said as she opened the bag. The scent of near fresh cookies and ginger snaps invaded the air and caused all three fillies to salivate. After dividing up the sweet treats they dug into a meal that would have made Ponyville's resident dentist, Minuette who was affectionately dubbed Colgate, to cringe. Narci nibbled at a ginger snap upon tasting it her eyes flew open,

"These are soooo good! Who makes these?"

"Pinkie Pie!" answered Silver.

"The bouncy overly-energetic party planner who brought the cake and punch to my welcoming party?" said Narci with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep!" piped Sweetie.

"I wouldn't have thought that." muttered Narci.

"My big sister Rarity said that when she first started they had to have the firestallions constantly on standby because she had two and three kitchen fires a week." giggled Sweetie, "It was so bad that the Cakes came really close to firing her. But they couldn't because despite all of her accidents their customers found her joy infectious and they wouldn't let them get rid of her."

"I don't think I could stand being around her all of the time. I would go crazy" said Narci.

"I don't think she can stand being sad that is why she is so crazy-." added Silver before being cut off by Sweetie.

"That's mean, Silver!" shouted Sweetie as she shot Silver a hard look.

Silver raised her hooves up in defense,

"You didn't let me finish," she replied," I think that she tries her best to make others happy because she can't stand how being sad makes her feel and she doesn't want anypony else to feel that way, ever."

Sweeties face softened and she muttered a soft,

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok Swee.....Eek!" shrilled Silver as she leapt from her seat crashing into Sweetie who was knocked onto her back.

"Bwhahha" roared Narci as tears streamed form her eyes after watching Silvers reaction to her wing tip grazing her flank.

Standing above Sweetie the two fillies locked eyes and both started to blush furiously which only made Narci laugh harder. But they both silently agreed that Narci's wing teasing had gone far enough,

"Do you trust me?" mouthed Silver.

Sweetie shivered just a little and then nodded yes. On cue Silver dropped her muzzle gently brushing Sweeties ear which caused the filly to blush even more. The warm breath ticked her ear and she could help but giggle, as Silver whispered her plan,

"I think Narci needs to go swimming,"

The position Silver had taken on a not so innocent appearance and she looked like she was kissing Sweeties ear. A blush started faintly glow beneath Narci's coat but before it was even noticeable her wings shot out with a loud,

"Pomf!"

That was the sign the other two had been waiting for, so the sprung to action. Scooping the bat filly up they marched over to the stream and chunked her into the cool running water. The watched as the filly sunk in cloud of bubbles. Moments passed and Narci didn't surface. Sweetie and Silver each shared worried glances and then they approached the waters edge.

The sounds of their movement sent her tail tell signs that they were with in range so Narci kicked off the bottom and launched herself from the surface pulling Silver in with a deft swipe of a wing. Silver fell into the water with ease but Sweetie wasn't so easy a rock to budge. Fighting back Sweetie didn't particularly care to get her mane wet.

In a rush of adrenalin her magic roared to life, with a high ascending note her voice was boiling over with power and ethereal sharpness as a thunderclap of energy spread out shaking the foundations of the cave. The breadth of the psionic wave was far larger than anything she had ever managed to summon in her short life. The force of it sent Narci screaming back into the water as several of the stalactites fell from their perch above.

Grunting as she pulled herself from the water Silver watched in horror as one of the stone spears crashed beside her barely missing her body. She let out a scream as she sprung to her hooves and then she ran as fast as they could carry her.

Surfacing Narci could feel the wave echo throughout the chamber each one giving her a vision as to what was going on. Suffering form a information overload she didn't register the colossal stone that had set its sites on her.

"LOOK OUT!" screamed Sweetie as she watched the boulder splash down in the water atop her friend.

Running for her life Silver had ran up the ramping passage and had just crossed the be bridge when it exploded behind her turning the natural bridge that had withstood a thousand lifetimes crumble like old bread. Her heart and lungs were pumping and the sound of her heartbeat could be felt in her ears. She was already halfway through the diagonal passageway when she heard Sweetie scream, look out. Guilt about leaving her friends behind started to well up inside her so she slammed her hooves down trying to stop her forward momentum. After sliding several feet she whirled around and ran back towards her friend.

Jerking her head up at the killing stone time seemed to freeze; the silver locket around Narci's neck pulsated and then opened. One side held a clock face and the other a compass. The clock's previously unmoving second hand started ticking and the spinning Compass needle came to abrupt halt, pointing north. Her eyes were opened and for the briefest time she felt as though she was everywhere and her soul marked every year, month, week, day, hour, minuet, and second, down to fractions of time that were incomprehensible to understand. That all came to a halt as time rebooted and the rock continued on its course.

Diving down she raced the boulder to the bottom of the pool. Peddling with her hooves and flapping her wings she slipped out from underneath the rocks shadow but she wasn't fast enough. The boulder wasn't going to be denied its kill as it pinned the tip of Narci's port side wing. Feeling the delicate bones crack under the colossal weight she let out a scream that did nothing but create a stream of bubbles. Desperately pulling at her wing hot tears began to pour from her eyes only to be stolen away by the coolness of the water. Her chest burned as her need for air became more important than the freeing of her wing and just as she opened her mouth to suck in water- thinking it was air her world warped and twisted. With sickening pop she fell to the stony floor a few feet away from Sweetie Belle, who was rushing to her aid. Just before she blacked out she spotted a warm magical glow illuminating from Sweeties flank. She smiled as she recognized it what it was, a cutie mark.

Chapter 16

Opening her eyes Narci was greeted by a the sight of clear blue skies. High above she could make out a hawk soaring on the thermals. Gasping she realized she could make out every feather on his proud form. Sunlight reflected off his wings in brilliant gold's and browns. Rolling over she planted her hooves beneath her she stood up.

To her right were endless green fields as far as the eye could see and to her left stood an expansive forest. The little leaves danced in the wind. And she could make out little birds flittering among the branches. The hum of bee's flying from flower to flower out pacing the slow wing beats of the butterfly. It was so much, it was too much to take in.

Several things didn't make since. The first was how sharp her eye sight had become, the world wasn't a haze of odd and shapeless objects and everything stood out in vivid color. The other was that the sun didn't bother her. A deep frown crossed her face as she realized there was only one possibility. She was dead!

Her little legs started to shake as the enormous weight fell atop her soul. Falling to the ground she began to sob. Burying her muzzle under one of her forelegs she thought about all those she left behind. The faces of her family floated through her mind. She would never see her parents again, even though she rarely saw them anyway. Her father was always away. She pounded the ground as she remember his last words to her before he left,

"I love you Narcissus! I don't want you to forget that. I hope you understand that I have to go away for a while. The princess has returned, our princess! I can't believe it. I have got to fulfill my hereditary duty. The founder of our family was Princess Luna's Guard captain and now I must go and be the same."

Growling she hit the ground again and cursed him. She tore at the earth flinging a clump of grass as she cursed again so forcefully that spittle rained down on the now terrified grass. Then her mother came to mind. Unlike her father she had always been illusive. Her father stayed home and tended her and her sisters while her mother worked. It was that closeness that made her father going away so hard. Night Lilly was a much a slave of duty as her father. Unlike him she wasn't bound by oath. She did it because she wanted too. Her political ambitions over ruled her parental duty.

Each of her sisters came to mind and none of their memories hurt her like her parents. She had her share of scraps with them but for the most part they lived in harmony. They all looked after Narci in their own way. As the youngest and as a pony with a handicap they treated her like she was a treasure. Her anger melted away as those happy memories pushed away those that pained her.

Her tutor was a silver coated stallion named, Ebony Script who treated her like a like a brother would treat his favorite little sister. He helped her with her homework and helped her learn bridlelle. He was her constant companion. And sadly her only friend from the first day of school to the day she left for Ponyville.

What hurt her the most was the thought of her new friends. She would never see Sweeties smile again. She would never get to poke fun at Silver again. She only did that because she liked to push the filly out of her comfort zone and because Silver reminded her one of her sisters. Then there was the constant bickering of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. They too reminded her of her sisters. She had subconsciously created a home away from home. And now that too was gone.

Tears started returning and a sob was caught in her throat when she heard something. It was faint like a voice far off but she had heard something. Her ears swiveled back and forth trying to capture the sound again.

"Now?" whispered a familiar bouncy voice.

"Please Doctor?" it asked again.

Suddenly shadows were cast upon the ground. All of them were vaguely pony shaped. Backing up Narci counted them, there were twenty-five in all. Most of them were silent. One of the Shadows bounced around full of energy. It antics for the most part were directed around the darkest of the shadows.

"Please! Please! Puh-lease!" begged the bouncy shadow.

"No!" said two shadows in unison; each sounding like very much alike each other with only an octave of difference between their voices. The smaller shadow even looked like a petite version of the darker one, only he was wearing a top hat.

Another shadow took flight and hovered over the darkest one's shoulder,

"Look at her she is so sad. Can I give her a muffin?" asked the concerned mares voice which held a distinctively motherly tone.

A pop filled the air sounding oddly like someone pulling a sucker out of their mouth came from somewhere off to her right. Laying on her side a shadow pointed an object at the trio that were previously talking. It took Narci a moment before she realized the object the shadow held was indeed the shadow of a sucker,

"Lighten up Doc!" demanded the shadow in a husky but still feminine voice.

The dark shadow complied as his shadow faded until it was almost non-existent, which made the bouncy and flying shadows laugh.

"Not what I meant," said the lounging shadow flatly.

A click like sound came from the top hatted shadow,

"Well we are almost out of time, its now or never!'

"Please?" pleaded the bouncy shadow and the flying shadow in unison.

"Not yet," answered the once dark shadow.

The world started to draw in around Narci. It was a strange experience for the bat filly and she was filled with a since of dread. As the world withdrew into her and just before she let out a scream she heard one final voice,

"Oki doki loki! You're the Doctor!"

"Wake up!" pleaded Sweetie's voice, "Please wake up!" Slowly Narci's eyes fluttered open. Before she could even grasp what had happened Sweetie pulled her up into a hug. Narci eased her hooves up Sweetie's sides and wrapped her forelegs around her. Sweeties tears were a welcomed warmth as they rubbed of into Narci's damp coat. They stayed like that for a while before Sweetie finally let go.

"I thought I lost you!" sobbed Sweetie her face puffy from crying. Rubbing her head Narci gave Sweetie a weak smile,

"I think you did, but I'm back now."

Pulling her into another hug Sweetie let out a sigh of relief. Becoming uncomfortable with all the mushy gushy stuff Narci pushed Sweetie away. The unicorn filly dropped her head and sniffed. Narci's wings tingled. Laying there the circulation must have been cut off because they still held a pins and needles feeling. She started to stretch them out put she quickly stopped as her left wing started to throb.

"Don't move your left wing," said Sweetie as she held her hooves up ready to stop her patient from doing anything that would hurt herself, "The rock fractured the tip and first joint of your left wings anterior phalange."

Bringing the wing around Narci looked over the wing. The tip had a popsicle stick on each side and was wrapped in gauze along with the next phalange in series to stabilize the injury. Eyeing Sweeite a smile that reached up and caused eye eyes to smile as well Narci said,

"If you didn't already have a microphone cutie mark I think you would have a medical cutie mark."

Her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. Turning to admire her own flank Sweetie spotted it, black and metallic microphone surrounded by a green aura. Rubbing a hoof across it to make sure it was real it didn't smear and it was then that she knew it was real and it was hers. She let out a squee and then got up and started to do a strange little victory dance that looked very little like what it was supposed to be, the cabbage patch. Falling to her feet she was wearing the biggest smile that Narci had ever seen. Narci gazed up and mouthed a prayer,

"Thank you! Blessed Sisters here my words of thanks. You have brought me back from Elysium to my friends. I am eternally indebted to you."

After the prayer she looked around for Silver. She wasn't anywhere to be found,

"Sweetie where is Sliver?"

"Oh, she went to get help." she answered.

"We don't need help!" replied Narci.

Raising a hoof Sweetie pointed to the now broken bridge,

"Yes we do!"

A moment latter the echo's revealed that Sweetie was right,

"So, we just wait." she said dejected.

"Yep!" replied Sweetie sounding way to cheerful.

Chapter 17

Twenty minuets of listening to Sweetie gush about her new cutie mark was enough to drive anypony insane. A noticeable twitch had developed in one of Narci's eyes,

"Look Sweetie, I'm really happy for you but in all your excitement have you considered what it means?" asked Narci flatly.

Plopping down on her rump Sweetie raised a hoof to her chin. After several minuets she gazed back at her new cutie mark and then resumed her posture.

"Well it is a microphone, so it must be a singing cutie mark." she answered with surety.

Waving her hoof gesturing to the ruined room Narci shot Sweetie a sharp look,

"Are you sure your special talent is singing?"

With the evidence on hoof Sweetie started to reconsider her earlier statement as she formulated a hypothesis that matched the perceivable phenomenon,

"Well it's a microphone held by magic, so perhaps I have a magical voice?"

"I don't know what it is but something about your rock crushing voice is familiar," said Narci placing her own hoof to her chin mirroring Sweetie's earlier posture.

"If you heard it again would it help?" asked Sweetie wanting to help her friend help her. Shrugging Sweetie desided to try again anyways,

"Ahem! do rE Me FUs Ro DA-".

Sweeties eyes filled with painful tears as Narci's hoof plunged into her mouth. The force of the growing harmony sent waves of energy up Nacri's foreleg as it resonating up the appendage into the fillies body. All it all it made her fill tingly like her whole body had been asleep. After extricating her hoof Narci gave Sweetie an apologetic smile,

"I'm sorry about that Sweetie. You weren't on the receiving end of your magical voice."

Laying her hears back Sweetie snorted. "I get my cutie mark and my friend doesn't even want me to use my special talent. I think she is just jealous." She thought. Looking off to the side she didn't see Narci scoot closer. Using her uninjured wing she reached out and lightly touched Sweetie's mark. This caused an involuntary shutter to cascade down the unicorns' spine, causing her to gasp,

"What was that?"

"What? This!" coyly said Narci as she stroked the mark again causing yet another gasp to escape her victims lips.

"Stop that! It's uncomfortable." said Sweetie realizing all to late that it came out louder than she had intended. Narci pulled her wing back and dropped her head. She couldn't bare to see her look so sad so relented,

"You can do it again if you want," muttered Sweetie.

Narci shook her head,

"I'm sorry Sweetie. I should keep my hooves and wings to myself. It's just something I do sometimes."

"So you have a habit of touching ponies even thought they don't want to be touched or you have some kind of strange fetish were you have to touch somepony with your wings?" asked Sweetie who was now genuinely curious.

"What's a feti-never mind." said Narci deciding not purse that line of questioning, "I just do it, ok."

Sweetie could tell that Narci was hiding something but she didn't want to push it so she asked a less personal question,

"Why did I feel funny after you touched my cutie mark?"

Lifting her head up Narci looked at Sweetie with a serious look,

"You mean you don't know. You don't have a dictionary or encyclopedia entry for it?"

"No." answered Sweetie.

Opening her mouth to speak Narci was suddenly at a loss of words so she shut her mouth only to reopen it again. She mimed talking fore several more moments before she could work up the courage to fight against the blush that was teasing her flesh,

"Ponies who have no knowledge of magic believe that a ponies cutie mark is a universal erogenous- you do know what erogenous means right?"

Sweetie didn't have Narci's fortitude as she blushed at the thought,

"Yeah, I know what erogenous means." she answered with a hint of discomfort in her voice.

"Well they think that it is an erogenous zone and that is more or less true. It is far more than that though. A cutie mark isn't just a mark that is physically visible it is a mark that is tattooed on your very soul. So if somepony touches your cutie mark it's like they are touching your very soul. It is the ultimate sign of humiliation or-" answered Narci as Sweetie spoke up.

"Trust!" they spoke in unison.

The revelation unnerved Sweetie to the point that her ears started to twitch nervously. Gulping she said just barely louder than I whisper the only reason she could think of,

"So the reason you touched me like that is because you want to be my very special somepony?"

Leaping to her feet Narci reared up on her hind legs and crossed and uncrossed her forelegs rapidly,

"No! No! No, that's not it," she squeaked.

Sweeties light blush was replaced by a deeper shade of red and her soft eyes took on a harder edge,

"What? So if you weren't doing it because you trust me were you doing to humiliate me!" she shouted as she threw Narci's words back in her face.

Narci continued to cross and uncross her forelegs,

"That's not it either!"

"Why then?"

"BECAUSEIDON"TMAKEFRIENDSALLTHATEASLYANDEVENWHENIDOIDON"TKNOWHOWTOKEEPTHEM!" blurted Narci as she covered her mouth with both hooves and silently hating herself for spilling one of her secrets.

Sweeties rage was washed away like a log down river as Narci fell back to her hooves and then to the floor. The sound of Sweetie closing the distance between them Narci felt that she needed to get away so she shot up to her on her hooves and started to run away. Sweeite followed in pursuit. Without realizing it Narci placed her hoof on the chasms wall and started to run up the face heading for the top where the bridge had once stood. She was almost to the edge when she heard Sweetie call out not in anger but in surprise,

"How are you doing that!"

Chapter 18

"How are you doing that!" yelled Sweetie Belle from below. Stopping in her tracks Narci looked down at her own hooves. She could feel her magic pulsating into the rock face at rapid but even intervals. Hanging to a wall like a spider above a chasm would scare a non-bat pony to death but in Narci's case it was a thrill. Letting out a squee Narci spun around and started to rack across the wall.

Watching in wonder Sweetie just smiled. But it wasn't completely the smile one would wear seeing one of their friends doing something awesome it was the smile a survivor gets when they spot help.

"Hey!" yelled Sweetie trying to get the frolicking fillies attention. If Narci had heard her she wasn't acting like it as the bat filly continued her joyful spider run.

"HEY BAT BRAIN!" yelled Sweetie again this time a little of her power leaking out causing it to sound like it was coming out of loud speaker.

The outburst caused a radio blackout and Narci had to stop in her tracks as she realized she was momentarily blind. Gradually the sound died down and she looked down at Sweetie,

"Did you just call me a bat brain?" she growled, as her earlier insecurities started to bloom into anger.

"Yes, I did call you a bat brain," affirmed Sweetie, "Because if had been using your brain we would already be out to this cave."

Narci wanted to be mad but Sweetie logic was irrefutable; but there was one catch, this was her first time that this particular ability had never manifested itself before. She trotted back down to Sweetie. With each step she was hit with waves of nervousness. They still hadn't dealt with issue of what they were to each other. Before Narci could even start to explain herself Sweetie spoke up,

"Look Narci, I don't know what kind of issues you are hiding from me. I'm your friend and nothing is going to change that. You don't have to try so hard. But, before we start to try to get to the bottom of it. We need to get out of here."

Narci did the only thing she could, she nodded in agreement.

Consolidating the more useful items into one saddle bag Sweetie strapped on Sliver's bag and left hers to rot. "I have other saddle bags," she thought, "Although Silver more than likely has a few more too but, I would never hear the end of it if I left hers down here. And besides I can't expect Narci to carry one with that hurt wing." Handing Narci the end of the rope she watched as the bat filly climb the wall.

After reaching the top Narci started to pull her friend up,

"Holy Celesita! You are heavy," she said as she struggled to pull the unicorn up.

"Are you calling me fat!"

"No! Just heavy."

After resting from the climb they started down the diagonal passage. The closer they got back to the main room the fresher the air became. And before they knew it the were climbing the shaft on their way out. As they made their way to the top they began to hear the distinct sound of arguing.

"I'm sorry Princess but I'm going to have to insist that you stay up here," said a bass voice.

"I appreciate your concern Captain Shadowsteel but I'm the superior here!" replied another voice dripping with irritation.

"Twilight, Darling! Would you shut the buck up and let me go down to rescue my sister. I'm sure she is more terrified right now; than when Rainbow Dash told her the story of the Slenderpony!" added another.

Another pony started laughing,

"Gosh Rare! I didn't know a lady like you could use such dirty language and I'm sorry I didn't know that your sister was such a pansy," the laughing voice said with emphasis on the word Lady.

"Shut It, Rainbow Dash! If it were Scootaloo down in that hole you would resort to such vulgarities too,if it helped coax Twilight to order her guard to stand down and let you go down and rescue the chicken

"I don't have to have a reason to say Buck, I just say it. And if you call Scootaloo a chicken again I'll buck you so hard that the only clothes you will be designing for a while will be hospital gowns."

"Ah'm glad to see you acting so mature, Rainbow." came yet another voice, this one sounding very much like an older version of Apple Bloom.

"I can't believe all of you! Two fillies are down in dark cave, more than likely scared to death and all you can do is argue," said Cheerilee angrily, "And you! What kind of royal guard are you, huh? If you were any kind of guard, no if you were any kind of stallion you would have been the first one down in that cave instead of arguing with Twilight."

Meanwhile Narci was trying her best not to bust out laughing.

"I'm so grounded" wined Sweetie from below.

"Was it worth it?" asked Narci.

"I got my cutie mark, hay yeah it was worth it." replied Sweetie boldly before she nudged Narci to keep climbing. Narci was just inches from the opening when she crashed headlong into another ponies head.

"Ow!" the both said in unison. The force knocking Narci back into Sweetie's face. It was then that the two fillies found out having your face or plot come in contact with somepony else's was the ultimate form of embarrassment. The Stallion fell back to his haunches and was rubing his now sore head. When he looked down he spotted a silver manned filly doing the same thing. Slowly the filly looked up to see what she had bumped into and then she gasped,

"I'm....I'm not a lone!"

Chapter 19

"Alone?" scoffed the Stallion as he eyed the little filly. Still in shock Narci hadn't budged an inch as her latest chirp engulfed the stallion. The echo returned and proving her guess right. She felt a hoof wrap around her middle and was gently pulled up.

"Finally!" gasped Sweetie Belle as the light hit her face for the first time in hours. She too was lifted out of the dank hole. Unlike the bat filly she wasn't allowed a moment of silence.

"Sweetie Marie Belle! You should be a shamed of yourself. You could have given me a heart attack!" barked a gorgeous white unicorn with a blue mane. Rolling her eyes Sweetie couldn't help but think, "Here I was stuck in a cave and all you were worried about was the heart attack I gave you. What if I had a heart attack."

Still dumb struck Narci kept staring at the midnight blue coat and disheveled raven black mane of her savior. Sleep still clung to his eyes when he yawned,

"Your starting to freak me out kid!"

An embarrassed "Oh" was all the filly had to offer in response as a light blush burned at her checks.

In lieu of a parent or guardian Cheerilee decided to take it upon herself to speak to the bat filly,

"Narcissus Andria Floret!"

Gulping Narci slowly turned to the red mare who was approaching her with a hard gaze,

"Uh, yes Ms. Cheerilee," she squeaked.

Stopping a foot or so shy of her student Cheerilee sat down and continued to shoot daggers at her student,

"This makes twice now that you have skipped my class."

Off to the side sat three other fillies under the shade of a tall elm tree.

"Did Cheerilee just say that Narci skipped school," muttered Apple Bloom to Scootaloo.

A devious grin spilt across the orange pegasus fillies face,

"Yep, and that is so awesome!"

Sitting between them was a jittery Silver Spoon whose only contribution to the conversation was a weak smile. After running from the cave she told the first adult she could find that there were some fillies trapped in a cave. Unfortunately for her the first pony she found was Cloudkicker. And Cloudkicker being Cloudkicker she didn't take the plead for help as genuine. So, the word spread as a matter of gossip until it reached Rarity. Only then did it become a life and death emergency. Silver feeling like she had done her duty had went home. It was only after a gang of ponies showed up at her door step wanting to know the details did the filly realize that her friends were still trapped in the cave. And she was leveled with guilt.

After listening to the list of after school punishments that Cheerilee had rattled off she spotted a strange looking pony off to the side. As her echolocation provided more information a wide smile formed on her face, she quickly left the still talking red mare in a hurry and rapped the alicorn in a tight hug.

"Dad was right! You are our princess! I never should have doubted him. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Princess Luna!"

With a flat look Twilight looked down,

"I'm not Princess Luna," she said flatly.

Backing off Narci gave twilight a confused look,

"You're not Princess Luna?"

"NO! She is not Princess Luna! Her name is Princess Twilight Sparkle," said Cheerilee as a vain thumped on her brow, "I wasn't done talking to you little missy."

Twilight giggled at the enraged teacher but was silenced by the predatory look on the red mares face. '

"Now where was I," said Cheerliee bitterly, "Oh, yes! Tomorr-".

Cutting the teacher off Mr. Rich who had just arrived spoke up,

"That will be enough Ms. Cheerilee! You can punish the filly once she back in your class room. In the mean time Narcissus will be coming with me."

There was no sign that the ordeal caused Mr. Rich any worry. His face was set into a grim expression that chilled Narci down the core,

"Come on, Narci! We are going home."

Narci got up and started to follow the stallion to her fate. The were stopped by Silver who was now blocking the path.

"Silver Spoon, please move." demanded Mr. Rich.

"No, not...not until you hear what I have to say," replied Silver in small voice.

"What was that?"

"It wasn't Narci's idea," she lied, "It wasn't her fault. It was mine."

Raising an eyebrow he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Narci and Sweetie saw me sneak off and they followed me to the cave. I've been so sad since Diamond left that I would do anything to have a little fun. So, I thought I would check out the cave that Thunderlane and Rumble had discovered in the White Tail Woods. They were only doing it to keep any eye out on me. So, please don't punish her." pleaded Silver.

Letting the story settle in Mr. Rich blinked accouple of times and the raised his voice,

"Sweetie Belle, Rarity please come over her for a moment."

Rarity was still chewing her little sister out and didn't pay Mr. Rich no never mind.

"But."

"No Buts."

"But."

"I said no buts."

"But I got my cutie mark!" wined Sweetie.

At the sound of those words Apple Bloom and Scootaloo rushed over to Sweetie pushing Rarity out of the way as they did so.

"Oh wow!" said Scootaloo as she admired Sweeties cutie mark.

"What does it mean?" asked AB

"Well me and Narci thinks it means I have a magical voice." said Sweetie with a grin.

"Excuse me girls, but you can plan a cute-ceanera later," said Mr. Rich with now small amount of irritation, "I want everypony to hear what Silver Spoon just told me."

All eyes fell to Silver and she started to feel like a side-show pony.

"What have you got to say Silver?" asked Sweetie.

After taking a deep breath, Silver told everypony else what she had just told Mr. Rich.

The adults murmured too themselves and then to each other.

"I think it is in everypony's best interest that Narcissus be sent home and Diamond Tiara returned. If Diamond was here Silver wouldn't have been tempted to get a cheap thrill from exploring a dangerous cave. Endangering the lives of "Our" foals." exclaimed Mr. Rich with the charisma of a Canterlot politician.

"No, please no." pleaded Narci was no on her knees.

"You can't send her away," yelled Apple Bloom as she put on her cutest and saddest face.

"We won't let you send her home!" said Scootaloo as she pumped a foreleg trying to make her muscle stand out.

"It was my fault Mr. Rich. Don't punish her!" sobbed Silver.

Sneering at the fillies meager display Mr. Rich answered them with his a final word,

"No!"

Tears started pouring down Narci's face as she sobbed,

"I can't go home. The only friends I have there are my family and my tutor!'

Those words stabbed into Twilights heart like twisted metal.

"I told you too keep your nose clean and I would make it worthwhile but you deliberately disobeyed me. Now you must suffer the consequen-"

"No!" said Twilight cutting him off.

Turning Slowly toward the Alicorn Mr. Rich felt his mouth start to dry up,

"What was that Princess Sparkle?" he croaked.

"I said No! You can't send her home. You can send for you daughter if you want her to return but you can't sent this filly home. She will not leave until I release her."

Reaching up to his tie to loosen it Mr. Rich glared at the Princess who was clearly throwing her clout around,

"Release her? Release her from what?"

A thin smile formed on the purple ponies lips,

"She is my apprentice. Well that is if she will have me as her teacher," said sweetly as she turned to Narcissus, "If you say yes, you can stay in Ponyville as long as you like baring any objections your parents may have. Would you like to be my student."

Wiping the snot from he nose Narci looked at the Alicorn in wonder,

"Studying what?"

Quietly Twilight moved closer and placed a wing tip under Narci's chin and lifted it up ever so slightly until she met the bat fillies squinting eyes,

"The Magic of Friendship!"

"Aww Granny that can't be all" moaned one of the three foals sitting in front of the ancient thestral. Rocking in her ebony rocking chair the old mare smiled.

"What happened next Grandma Narci?" asked the brown coated colt with a noticeable Trottingham accent.

"Well, let me think," said Narci as she tapped her chin with a hoof, "I'm just now getting to the true beginning of my tale. You see, that was the start of my time in the limelight."

Author's Note

The story will continue in Lesser Light: Timed Trials in Infinite Space. There are several Easter Eggs in the story see if you can find them.

Chapter 5

Running a brush through her silver mane Narci greeted the morning with a tired yawn. Sleep didn't find her until just before sun up and the previous days activities clung to her in the form of stiff legs and a sore back. Her wings were even sore and they hardly ever bothered her except after her attempts at flight.

The door squeaked as her bed room door opened up behind her,

"Little Miss are you decent?" asked a lithe voice.

"Yes Ms. Dandelion,"

A plump yellow earth mare made her way into the room, humming a little country-western ditty. Narci's heard a hollow thump followed by a softer one as Dandelion sat two packages on the floor,

"Mrs. Ditzy Hooves, our local mail-mare dropped off the item you had been waiting for as well as a present. She said to tell you that she was sorry that it took so long, your daedalus was mistakenly sent to Appaloosa," chirped the cheerful maid.

Narci hadn't heard a word, all she could think of was the word, present. Skipping across the room the little filly plopped down beside the two blurry boxes. The larger she knew held her daedalus, a ingenious little machine that printed what she typed in both the raised bumps of bridlelle (braille) and equestrian characters. It was a clever attempt at merging the visual language with its tactile counterpart so that a vision impaired pony could write down and double check their thoughts while also printing its equivalent so that it could be read by those not versed in bridlelle.

Picking up the smaller box she was surprised at its weight. After tearing open the packaging she was surprised by the gift. It seemed to be a large silver locket. Running her hooves over it she quickly deduced that it was roughly egg shaped and its surface was covered in embossed with intricate lines that spread out from its center. The lines closest to its center stood the tallest and each subsequent elliptical line was less pronounced until it gradually fell away to smoothness.

"Isn't that pretty!" gasped Dandelion, "You know what isn't pretty? Your mane!" Teased the earth mare as she fetched the brush and set to work on Narci's bed mane.

Several attempts at escape latter, Narci gave in to the stronger mare. "Why did a pony I have never met give me a present" she thought as she looked down at the locket that hung just above her collar bone. The rhymic bushing felt good on her scalp and her eyes slowly drooped. Sleep teased her mind and had almost coaxed the little filly into nap when Dandelion gently shook her ward,

"Wake up! You had all night to sleep. Now hurry along, Morning Song has cooked a tasty breakfast for you,"

Streching out her wings Narci yawned again,

"I'm never going to get used to being up during the day," she groaned.

True to Dandelions word, the table had many tasty looking dishes including pancakes, oatmeal, and a variety of fresh squeezed juices. After fixing her plate Narci plopped down across from her host, a light brown earth pony stallion named Filthy Rich.

He didn't even look up from his paper, as he reached for his coffee. After taking a careful sip he eyed the filly across from him and then snorted in disgust. Not noticing Narci shoveled another bite into her mouth. A shutter made its way up Rich's spine as he revolted at Narci's unrefined behavior,

"I would expect the daughter of the Captain of the Night Guard to have better Manners," he said, a slight venomousness dripping from his words.

After taking a big gulp from her glass she shot him a sassy look,

"You learn to eat as much as you can as fast as you can when you have eight other siblings. Especially if they are all bigger than you are. Its a dog it dog world out there!"

Blankly he looked at the filly as the wheels in his head turned. A wide smile formed on his face and he let out a deep belly laugh. Flinching Narci did her best not spill her juice at the sudden noise.

"You keep that attitude Kid and you will make a fine business pony one day!" excitedly replied the stallion as the fires of capitalism roared to life in his eyes.

The classroom was silent and Narci silently cursed herself for leaving as early as she did. If it wasn't for the kindly old grounds keeper, Mr. Greenhooves, she would still be shivering in the crisp air of the spring morning. He had happily let her in, telling her to not get into trouble. Her daedalus was perched atop her desk, fully loaded with paper. Soon she heard the clippity clop of hooves as her class mates filed in.

A white blur slowly made its way towards her, the blurry form turned abruptly and then sat down in her own seat. Narci started to speak but was cut off by the southern twang of her neighbor,

"Ah oughta sock you right in the eye for giving Sweetie the big ole black eye you gave her," threated AB

Slinking back in her seat Narci suddenly felt hurt,

"I gave Sweets a black eye?"

The blurry yellow form pounded her hooves together and then spouted,

"You sure as hay did, now are going to apologize or am Ah going to have to make ya!"

Scootaloo's laughter pierced the air,

"Why would you want to do a thing like that AB, have you heard what the other fillies and colts are saying. Nopony could believe it when I told them that Sweetie got in a fight with the new kid. But, when they saw Sweeties black eye this morning they had to believe it."

Sweetie shot Narci a nervous glance and mouthed, "I'm sorry,".

AB opened her mouth and then closed it again. She gave Narci a hard look and then looked down at the red cased machine that sat on Narci's desk, she started ask when Sweetie beat her too it.

"Is that a daedalus bridlelle machine?"

"A daedubridawhooie?" asked AB confused.

Narci looked at Sweetie, "Cue encyclopedia entry," she thought.