Accidental Sunshine (10) (Patreon)

Grey-17 helped Time Turner as much as she could that morning. She helped him lift the heavy weights for the tower, so the Ponyville clock would keep working. She helped push and carry some things around the bottom floor, helped him sweep and clean. She even tried to help him cook breakfast, though that was where things finally turned sour.

Only grubs needed to eat solid food, and so that sense had long since atrophied with age. Enjoying small bites of the things her “friends” served at their party was one thing, they had been made with “love.” But when she was the one cooking, that was impossible. She tried to make pancakes, but only managed to make a small house fire.

"I appreciate how much you want to help," Time Turner said, once he'd extinguished the range, and dunked the pan into the sink. "But I think... we might still be seeing some issues with fine motor control. Maybe you shouldn't do something that's quite so... dangerous?"

He hadn't thought making food was too dangerous for her before! But she didn't argue the point—at least he'd managed to put the fire out before it swallowed his workshop, and the tower with it.

"Yeah, uh... that's probably it. Just need more time." She sat on her haunches, then tilted her head to one side. "What should I do?"

He removed a few pieces of fruit from something—a large vertical box, with light on the inside. There were apples on a shelf there, along with lots of other things. He set them in a bowl at the center of the table, then started eating one. It smelled fresh enough, though she was more interested in how that box could stay cold like that without any ice inside...

"What do you mean?" he asked, when he finished one piece of fruit, and tossed the core into a bin. "I don't expect you to do anything. You're focused on your recovery, Ditzy. Other than physical therapy, maybe some adult literacy classes to get your reading comprehension back..."

"How do I do those?" she asked, moving closer to him. She stood next to him, close enough to hear the crunch from each crisp bite of that fruit. Yet she didn't touch the bowl herself, obviously. "I want to learn to read! And... whatever physical therapy is. That one too!"

Time Turner retreated from her a short distance, staring. He put his simple meal down, scratched at his chin with one hoof. "The schoolhouse here in Ponyville would teach reading, but... I don't believe there's anypony there to teach adults. I would be happy to do it myself, if I didn't have so many other obligations. I don't think I could make the mortgage on the workshop if I spent that time teaching classes."

"School-house," she repeated, feeling the words on her tongue. Like so many other things in Equestria, they had no easy equivalent for her old life. Why should bugs have to learn how to read, much less build a whole structure for it?

They would probably put that construction material to more productive use elsewhere. But ponies didn't care. "So if I went to this... schoolhouse, they would teach me to read?"

Time Turner shook his head weakly. "I'm sure they would’ve, a few decades ago. But it would be all young ponies in there. That's why we need a special program. I'll speak to Lyra, she might know about something. You can't be the first pony who ever needed to re-learn how to read."

"And doing that will... help you?"

He nodded. "Every sign of your recovery is a relief to me, Ditzy. You wouldn't have been on that airship if it wasn't for me. But if you can get back to the mare you were, maybe I'll be able to forgive myself."

He left her there in the kitchen to stew on that. The first faint lines of light streaked their way in from the window, and at last the sun rose over Ponyville.

That meant the other ponies would be getting up too. She wouldn't have to pace around in her room and pretend to be asleep anymore. Maybe she could go investigate the town! If the schoolhouse wasn't well guarded, she might even be able to steal some of its reading-based secrets.

She followed Time Turner out of the kitchen and into the workshop. She remembered well from the day before that she wasn't supposed to touch any of his things, so she left those alone. "I think I'm going to go walk around for a while," she told him, pointing at the door. "Am I allowed? I know you have a lot to do."

"Allowed..." He lifted a pair of goggles away from his face. "Of course, Ditzy. You're not a prisoner. Do you think you could find your way back when you're done?"

She nodded, pointing one wing straight up behind her. "Yeah! There's that big tower, so it's easy to find! I could fly here from anywhere in town."

"That's good. Just come back if you need help with anything, okay? Don't make any big decisions on your own. If anything happens and you aren't sure what to do, just come back and talk to me, okay? Or ask one of your other friends."

Grey-17 nodded to him, then slipped out the door, vanishing into the early morning streets of Ponyville.

The pony settlement was only just waking up, with the first few creatures emerging from their homes with carts and supplies to begin their daily labor. Many offered her friendly greetings as she passed, each one carrying a slight taste of love.

Grey-17 didn't tell them she didn't know their names, of course. They thought they were her friends, so her only real choice was to give each one a polite wave back, and repeat some of the same phrases the ponies liked to use.

"Good Morning!" she told them, though she didn't know what would make it good or bad. Yes, the sun was up again, that was what the sun did. But it made them smile at her, and radiate a few drops of love in her direction.

They were happy just to see her, sharing the magical essence of life without even stopping for a conversation. There was no prey in existence as wasteful as these ponies. When the swarm discovered where they were, no bug would ever go hungry again.

Grey-17 still didn't leave to go tell them. None of those bugs had ever relied on her before, they would have their own ways to get food now. But Time Turner—he was relying on her, and maybe Ditzy Doo's other friends too. They would be so sad if she ran away!

She asked a few helpful strangers where to find the schoolhouse, and was soon close enough to see it up the hill, bright red and white just like the ponies told her.

Instead of walking right in, Grey-17 focused on her training.

Otic’s voice was clear in the back of her mind again, a memory of many old lessons. "Whenever there is something of value, there will be creatures protecting it. The world is cruel, and all creatures know they must zealously guard anything they wish to hold. Watch carefully, until you have seen what means the prey use to access this target you have chosen. Only then will it be safe to do likewise."

Ditzy had brought nothing out into that Ponyville morning, so she had nothing to conceal while she found a good hiding spot to watch. There were a number of large trees on a hill with an uninterrupted view of the schoolhouse, with brush so thick that a pony walking along the road would not see her there.

That was where she waited, peering out with one eye so she could witness the hidden secrets of pony reading.

She did not have to wait for very long. A single pale pony with a bright red mane made her slow way up the path, whistling as she went. She was much smaller than the adults, the size too small for her wings to be properly developed.

Except this pony had no wings, or even any signs of them. Just a little mark on her flank like a curved stick, and a pouch on her back full of... something.

As she approached the building, a grown pony emerged, pink and grinning. "Welcome to class, Twist! Are you ready for an exciting day of learning?"

"Yes, Miss Cheerilee!" She marched inside then, right past the guard and into the rows of desks beyond.

Soon others came, either alone or in small groups. Some came with adult ponies, probably their progenitors. They offered polite conversation, then inevitably ushered the young into the building one at a time.

It's not that different from the way new hunters are trained. Just wasteful, like everything the ponies do.

Their young grew so slowly that they were a fraction of the size of their adults. That probably made them easy to control, though their hunting abilities would be greatly reduced. Maybe that was why ponies decided to learn “reading” instead.

She didn't have to care why ponies did it this way, so long as she understood the rules. The tiny creatures walked up, said hello, then got let inside to learn. But the room was filling up, there weren't a lot of empty spaces left.

I'm running out of time.

There was one obvious solution here. She would just have to change so they would let her in. But into what?

"Imitation only functions in the absence of the original," Otic had said, after her third or fourth time trying to copy her way into a training exercise without fighting the creature already there. "They must be contained, or disposed of. When this is done, you may take their place without suspicion. So long as you've done all you can to master their mannerisms and behavior first, of course."

There was no way to capture or contain these small ponies on their way to school. Even if she could, she didn't have enough time to learn everything about the way they acted. She needed to do something else instead.

But not right then. A bell rang, and then the door closed with a heavy thump. The guard walked away, and she heard a muffled voice from the front of the room, leading the students through various exercises.

Grey-17 tried to listen, but gave up after only a short time. She was too far away to hear them, and couldn't see whatever the small ponies were looking at. She would have to be inside if she wanted to steal the secrets there.

She slipped back through the trees, then onto the road leading back to Ponyville. There were few ponies walking this way, since the schoolhouse was up on its own little hill. But she did find one pony, heading towards her instead of away.

Even better, it was one of the ponies she recognized!

"Good morning Lyra!"

She had even remembered the pony's name! But if a creature earned a name, it was important to show them the respect of using it. One day she would have one too.

"Ditzy? You're up early." The unicorn slowed in the road as she approached, glancing over her shoulder once. "Time Turner isn't with you?"

"Nope! Out on my own today!" She beamed, and her wings moved with her words, shifting open, then closing more slowly again. "Why are you outside?"

"Why am I..." Lyra repeated, before grinning awkwardly, then pointing over her shoulder. "These saddlebags, see? I always pick up fresh apples from the farm around harvest season. Applejack cuts me a deal when I buy them in bulk. Bonnie uses them for caramel apples, and her customers can tell when they're..."

She trailed off, and the first twinge of something other than friendly curiosity reached her voice. Grey-17 felt it of course, that confusion over what she could possibly be doing here, along with worry for her safety. "I thought you were having problems with your memory, Ditzy. Should you be this far out of town on your own?"

"I dunno." She shrugged both wings. "I thought about coming out here to learn how to read, but I saw all the ponies in that school were small, so I gave up."

"Learn how to..." Lyra looked away. There was more of that pain, the same awful feeling that Time Turner felt when he looked at her. "Maybe I can help you with that. How about you come with me to get some apples first?"

"Sure! I know what those are!"

Maybe she didn't have to sneak into a school after all. If Lyra taught her, then Time Turner would be so proud he wouldn't be sad anymore!