Lesser Light: My Time in the Limelight

by soothsayer

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.