Lesser Light: My Time in the Limelight

by soothsayer

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.