Smolder sat at her desk, bored. She really didn’t care about what was going on in her science class, or at least she thought it was science class. Her gaze wandered around from looking at the windows to anything of interest in the classroom. No matter where the dragon looked, nothing really captured her attention. Her gaze swept over her friends and professor.
“Now, as I’m sure you all already know, we are lucky enough to have a comet in our skies this month,” Professor Fluttershy spoke up at the front of the classroom. “As it moves across our sky, you’ll be able to see it each evening, and will be able to track it as it passes by overhead. Of course, in early history, it was believed that comets were considered bad omens. But now, we know them to be astronomical events that….”
Again, Smolder was only paying half attention to her professor. She should be paying attention and taking notes, but she really didn’t have the energy or interest. For that matter, she didn’t really care all that much about comets all that much. Smolder turned to spy on her friends in the class. Gallus and Silverstream both seemed to be doing their absolute best to pay attention, but were struggling to keep up with their notes. Ocellus and Yona both were hanging on every word from Professor Fluttershy, possibly taking the best notes possible. As for Sandbar, Smolder noticed he wasn’t focused on the lesson. Instead, his head was down in a notebook and he seemed to be scribbling something in it, but it certainly wasn’t the notes. Smolder tried to move her head around to try and to get a better view of what he was doing so intently.
The loud ringing of the bell interrupted every creature in the classroom. Professor Fluttershy spoke up over the loud scooting of the chairs and chatter of the students, reminding them of their homework. Smolder packed her items together before turning back to look at Sandbar, who was still seated, moving his hoof faster in the notebook in what looked like an effort to hurriedly finish something.
The dragon made her way over to her friend, “Yo Sandbar, the bell rang. Let’s get some food.”
“I know, I know, I just want to finish this while I’m still in the zone,” the pony answered without looking up.
Smolder looked over him to see what he was doing. Through the blurs of his hoof movements, she was able to see that he was drawing the front of the classroom, complete with Professor Fluttershy teaching. In fact, the dragon was a bit taken back of how realistic and well-drawn it was. It looked as if Sandbar had just begun to start shading in different parts of the picture.
“Whoa, you drew that?” Smolder commented with surprise.
Sandbar finally stopped drawing and looked up to Smolder. He had a warm smile on his face, “Yeah, I saw we had twenty minutes before the bell was going to ring and I thought, ‘why not see how much I can get done in that amount of time,’” he looked back down at the sketch, “I feel it’s still a bit rough though. I thought I could at least get to the texture to show the lighting.”
“It’s so great! I didn’t know you could draw,” Smolder commented.
“Any creature can draw,” the earth pony stood up from his seat and stretched a bit before he began packing his items up, “I’ve been drawing since I can remember. And since the School of Friendship finally has an art class, I can finally indulge again.”
A sly smile appeared on Smolder’s face, “And here I thought it was your way to cope with the break-up.”
Sandbar couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh, come on, every creature knows the break-up was mutual. Yona and I are still good friends. We both thought it best to focus on our studies, especially since she’s trying to beat Ocellus for valedictorian.”
“How’s that going by the way?” Smolder asked as she picked up Sandbar’s notebook.
“Last I heard, Ocellus is ahead, but not by much. Yona told me she’s not giving up without a fight,” the pony answered, “she’s always like that.”
Smolder started flipping through the notebook. Each page featured a sketch from Sandbar, with a number of different subjects. Individual animals, close-ups of flowers, school buildings, the Ponyville skyline, furniture, and a number of different objects. With each drawing, Sandbar dated, detailed about the subject, and signed each one. The dragon was stunned with each turn of the pages.
“Hey, be careful with that,” Sandbar said as he reached to take it back.
Quickly, Smolder moved the notebook out of his reach and started to make her way to the hallway, “I’m still looking! I’ll give it back when I’m done.” She continued to flip the pages as they moved through the hallways.
Sandbar followed behind. Her answer might not have thrilled him, the pony was happy to see positive feedback.
“You said you drew these for your art class?” Smolder asked.
“Most of them, yeah.”
“The same art class that Professor Pinkie Pie teaches? I thought that class would involve less sketchbooks and more macaroni with glue and glitter,” the dragon joked.
Sandbar returned with his own joke, “No, that’s the advanced art class I’m supposed to take next year.”
The two shared a laugh. However, Smolder stopped her laughter as she turned to one page, almost causing her to freeze. Sandbar took notice and looked over to the dragon.
“What’s wrong?” Sandbar looked at the page the notebook was opened to. It was a sketch of Gallus, Smolder, Silverstream, Yona, and Ocellus in what looked like a section of the library. It was a fairly rough sketch, but some detail was given to the subjects, such as shading. In the artwork, Gallus looked as if he was overdramatically reading his lines which was causing Smolder and Yona to laugh. Silverstream had a smile as she looked on and Ocellus was studying the script with intent. And like the rest of the sketches in the book, it was signed, dated, and given details about the subjects. “Oh, I think I remember drawing this. This was….when we were all studying our lines for the Hearth’s Warming Eve play, I think.”
“You were drawing us?!” Smolder was panicked.
Sandbar tilted his head in confusion, “Yeah, I already knew my lines and I thought it would be cool to draw my friends, ya know? Watching all of you together and rehearsing seemed like the perfect scene to try and draw. But I didn’t get too far, as you can tell.”
“But you didn’t tell us you were drawing us! I thought you were finishing homework!” the dragon was growing a bit defensive.
“What? No, this was just for practice, for fun really,” Sandbar insisted. “You know what they say, practice makes perfect and all that. Besides, how could I not draw my best friends?”
Smolder looked back at the drawing. While it was simply an unfinished sketch done with a pencil, there seemed to be so much emotion and feeling in the five subjects. Smolder’s eyes were drawn to the drawing of her. It was of her in mid-laugh while holding the play script. She might not have been able to recall what she might have been laughing about, but it still brought a smile to her face.
“You want the sketch?” Sandbar asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“Huh?”
“I don’t need the sketch for class, and I already told ya it was just a practice for figure drawing.”
The orange dragon looked down at the sketch and then back to Sandbar. Before she could answer, Sandbar took his notebook from her claws and tore the page out of the spiral sketchbook. He then placed the loose page in Smolder’s claws. With a smile and a small laugh in his voice, he added, “There, now I have my sketchbook back.”
“Sandbar….thank you….” Smolder was able to mutter. Her words were genuine and grateful.
“Did you just thank me?” Sandbar asked, almost laughing.
“Of course, I did!” Smolder retorted with her normal sass. However, she lowered her voice back down as she looked back at the sketch, “I really like this, thank you.”
Sandbar smiled, “No worries! Now, let’s get some dinner. I’m sure the others are wondering where we’re at.”
“You go ahead, I’m gonna drop my bag off at my dorm first,” the dragon stated. Sandbar waved and trotted toward the mess hall as Smolder made her way toward the dorms.
Upon arriving at her room, she placed her bag at the foot of her bed. With the page from Sandbar’s sketchbook still in her claw, she took a small pin on the bulletin board in the dorm and placed the sketch above her bed. With it hanging over her bed, Smolder smiled as she looked at the unfinished work of art.