Friday evening had arrived and the entire student body were eagerly awaiting the comet viewing event that was scheduled for just outside the school grounds. The comet had been soaring slowly above the sky for the past two weeks, drawing each set of eyes upwards. Finally, the celestial object was at peak viewing with help of the pegasi ponies clearing the sky of clouds, only a sliver of the moon in the sky, and the position of the comet itself. The night was easily awaited by every creature at the school.
As the evening sky started to grow darker, an orange dragon made her way through the dorm hallways to a certain door. Arriving at the destination, she knocked on it with her claw. There was no answer. She knocked again.
“Sandbar? You in there?” she called out.
Her knocking pushed the door open with a loud creaking. A number of voices in her head told her to stop thinking of what she was thinking about doing. But why would she start listening to those voices of common sense now? Carefully, she pushed the door open and stepped into the dorm.
The dorm was dark inside, though some light from the pathway lamps shined into the room. With the help of that, and the light from the hallway, a dark figure was visible sitting at one of the desks. The dragon stretched her claw out to flip the switch, lighting up the room and revealing the green earth pony turning to see her enter.
“Smolder?” he asked.
“There you are!” Smolder said with relief, “What are you doing here? The comet viewing party is gonna start soon!”
Sandbar didn’t say anything. Instead, he looked back at his desk with a frustrated and disappointed look. On the surface of the desk, there were several pieces of paper and numerous different art supplies scattered all over.
The dragon ventured into the room. Her eyes examined the state of the boy’s dorm, such as how there a number of books spread all over the room, their beds were not made (though to be fair, Smolder never made her own), and it looked as if their trash bin was at least two weeks late in being taken out. “Geez, I knew you and Gallus would have a dirty dorm room, but I didn’t think it was this bad,” Smolder laughed as she drew closer to Sandbar. Something was kicked by Smolder’s foot. Looking down, she saw a number of crumpled up pieces of paper surrounding Sandbar at the desk. Smolder spoke again, this time with concern, “Sandbar, are you okay?”
He didn’t move. Instead, the pony sighed in a disheartened fashion and muttered, “Yeah, I’m fine….just having a crisis over here, pay it no mind.”
Smolder looked at Sandbar for a moment before looking at the crumbled pieces of paper by her feet. She reached down and picked one up with her claws before opening it. Inside, the paper featured a drawing of what appeared to be the dorm window and the view it held right outside. It was rough, but Smolder could tell there was a ton of effort put into it. She reached down for another crumpled up ball of paper and opened it as well. This one was of a section of his dorm, particularly of Gallus’ half of the room. Like the other one, it was a rough sketch but the labor that he put into it was apparent.
“Why’d you trash these drawings? They look great,” Smolder asked as she tried to salvage the pieces of art.
“Because,” Sandbar lifted his head up and looked up at the ceiling above, “they suck.”
The statement surprised Smolder, partly for his attitude and partly because she had never heard Sandbar said anything like that. “Huh?”
The pony continued, “Everything I’ve drawn just….just doesn’t look right. It doesn’t feel right when I look at it. Even if I just draw half of what I have envisioned, I just know it’s not even going to be good enough.”
Smolder didn’t speak. Her eyes drifted down to the floor, fully seeing all of the pieces of paper that littered the dorm’s floor.
“I’m used to art blocks, but this is….this feels so much different….” Sandbar mumbled. He returned his gaze back at his sketchbook that sat on his desk, “Like, I can usually just power through art blocks by….I don’t know, by willing it away like a bad dream and get something done. But now….” he paused for a moment, “Now I just feel like I’m flailing around in the dark….”
“Flailing around in the dark?” Smolder repeated in genuine interest.
Sandbar turned to look at the dragon, seeing she was still holding a few of his uncrumpled drawings. “Yeah. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s more than just not finding inspiration to draw something, it feels like I can’t draw at all….” Sandbar admitted weakly, “I’m trying to grasp into some sort of void for anything solid, but I know it’s all for naught.”
“But what about these?” Smolder offered Sandbar his discarded drawings.
“I drew them, but looking at each one reminds me of how much I don’t like how they were coming out. It gets under my skin, how each one is a smudge that I can’t ever wipe off,” Sandbar explained. His voice sounded defeated and exhausted.
Smolder pulled the damaged sketches back and looked at them for a moment. She then set them aside on his messy bed. “Hey, enough of worrying about your art. That comet viewing party is about to start up,” Smolder said with a smile, “You ready?”
A weak, and possibly forced smile, appeared on the pony’s face, “Yeah, all of us have been looking forward to it for a while now, huh?” Sandbar got up to his hooves.
“Cool, don’t forget to bring your sketchbook and stuff,” Smolder insisted as she headed to the door.
While Sandbar was about to ask why, he didn’t question. He placed the sketchbook in his saddlebag and followed behind.
Smolder led the pony through the vacant dorm hallways. It took a while before Sandbar did speak up about his confusion.
“Wait, aren’t we heading to the comet viewing?” Sandbar asked.
“Just a sec,” Smolder said, “we need to stop by my dorm first.”
Arriving at her dorm, the dragon opened the door and motioned for the Sandbar to follow in behind her as she turned the light on. Sandbar tagged along behind, but he was stopped in his tracks as he passed through the threshold of the doorway when his eyes saw something on the walls.
“Are those….?” he quietly asked.
Smolder smirked as she saw that Sandbar was stunned, “Yup.”
Above one of the desks, a number of different pieces of paper pinned up, some overlapping each other. Each one featured at least one drawing of a character, and Sandbar could recognize them, especially since his drawing of that character was pinned on the wall as well.
Sandbar entered the dorm a little more to examine all the artwork in more detail. It was, indeed, Smolder’s character Cinder. Using the sketch that Sandbar had drawn for her the week before, it seemed that Smolder had begun to draw her character repeatedly and develop them more. There were different concepts for the fictional dragon, including giving Cinder more advanced looking robotics, different types of weaponry, and more. Each of these drawings were very rough, but any creature looking at them could tell the artist put a bit of their soul into each sketch.
“You’ve been….busy, haven’t you?” Sandbar remarked as he looked at each drawing.
Smolder couldn’t help but take pride in the comment, “Yeah, I just started drawing almost non-stop since you drew me Cinder.”
A smile grew on Sandbar’s face as he looked at each one. They were all rough, but they each showed promise with plenty of room for growth. “I guess that means you’re still thinking of expanding on Cinder as a character?” Sandbar asked.
“Totally. What you said about her becoming a really cool character had me thinking how much room she has to grow,” Smolder answered with sincerity, “and how much room I have to grow as an artist too. After all, you said it yourself, any creature can draw with just a little practice.”
Sandbar was a bit taken back by the dragon’s words. He turned to face her, “I inspired you to draw all of these?”
“Are you kidding? Just look how awesome you made Cinder look!” Smolder excitedly motioned toward the drawing he did of the dragon’s original character. “Seeing you draw these past weeks is so cool. It’s like watching a volcano erupt or some sort of spell being performed!”
The pony was puzzled for a moment, “A volcano?”
“Yeah! It’s like watching something coming out of thin air, and it’s just amazing to see!”
A small chuckle escaped from Sandbar’s lips, “I guess that’s a compliment from a dragon.” He turned to look back at the different drawings Smolder had pinned to her wall. Next to her desk and above the headboard of her bed, There were three different drawings that were fastened to the wall with care. Two of the drawings from Sandbar: the portrait of Smolder and the candid sketch of Sandbar’s group of friends. The final sketch was a rough drawing of the bust of an earth pony stallion with a welcoming and warm smile.
“Is….Is that me?”
The dragon’s face was flushed, but she still answered with pride, “Yes, I drew it from memory for practice and I’m really happy how it came out.”
Sandbar looked closer at the sketch. It was very rough and it was apparent there were a number of issues that were common for amueter artists. However, just as with every other piece of art with Smolder’s signature on it, it was evident that it was a labor of love.
“Maybe you should be in Professor Pinkie Pie’s art class instead of me,” Sandbar turned to face the dragon and joked with a weak laugh at himself.
“Don’t talk like that. You’re awesome, Sandbar!” Smolder quickly shut down his self-deprecation as she leaned in toward him.
“Wha?” Sandbar was startled and backed up a bit as the dragon closed the gap.
Smolder proceeded with a bit of frenzy to her words, “I wanted you to see just how great your art is, Sandbar! It’s really cool and made me want to start drawing again after so long, and bring my own creations to life.” The dragon paused to calm herself before she continued, “I know I have a long way to go to get even close to how good you are, but it inspired me and….well, hearing you bad mouth your own stuff bums me out. I know you might have high standards for your art, but it’s totally okay if it’s not absolutely perfect, because I already think it’s amazing.”
“Really?” Sandbar’s face grew flushed at the kind words. “Smolder….I’m honored that you like my art so much and that it inspires you. I never knew it meant that much to you. Thank you.”
The dragon’s face was still red, but it housed an embarrassed smile, “Heh, yeah. I hope maybe one of these days I can take you up on that suggestion you had of our characters teaming up for a story or something.”
Sandbar’s face matched Smolder’s, in both color and expression, “Yeah, heh, it would be cool to see Cinder and Mitski team up to fight one of my villains, maybe Fleet Fox?”
“I don’t know who that is, but Cinder is gonna wreck them!” Smolder said with determination.
Both Sandbar and Smolder shared a laugh together.
“Thanks for sharing all of this, Smolder. It means a lot.” Sandbar thanked the dragon.
“Of course. We’re always here to help you out, and I’ll always be here to help you through those art blocks you have,” Smolder raised a claw up in a fist, as if she was signaling that she would be there to fight for him.
Sandbar chuckled, “Careful, that might be a bigger battle than you’re expecting.”
“I know what I’m up for!” Smolder insisted with a hint of smugness, “Now, how about we get to that comet viewing party?”
“Yeah, we should head over. I think it’s technically part of our grade.”
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The two friends trekked up one of the hills that were outside of the campus grounds. The night sky was colored with a mixture of dark blue and purple that was growing darker, reflecting the change from astronomical twilight to complete night. The remaining light above allowed for the pony and dragon to follow the path up to the hilltop, where they were welcomed by a number of the other students and faculty from the school around a few dimly-lit lamps.
“There you two are!” a familiar hippogriff called out as she saw her friends.
Smolder waved as she neared, “Hey Silverstream.”
“What took ya?” the griffon next to the hippogriff asked, “We thought you two might have gotten lost or something.”
“No, we’re fine Gallus,” Sandbar answered, “just had to make a couple stops first.”
A changeling lifted her head up from a telescope that was set up near the group of friends, “We’re just happy you’re here. Yona had to buy you both some time by telling Professor Fluttershy that you were on your way.”
“Friend Ocellus is right. Professor may have given friends bad grade if they not show up!” Yona stressed, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw Sandbar and Smolder arriving.
The group of friends caught up with one another for a bit as they settled in on the grass on the hillside. Eventually, all of their eyes went skyward as the comet captured their attention. Above them, the comet slowly streaked across the night sky, leaving a glowing large tail that looked like a brushstroke across a canvas. The sliver of moon itself as well as the stars hanging overhead looked only like a slice and pinholes respectively against the dark sky, and paled compared to the comet’s brightness. Each student couldn’t break their gaze from the object’s beauty.
Behind them, a familiar voice spoke, “I see that each of you are enjoying the comet viewing.” Each creature turned to see Professor Fluttershy behind them. “I’m really happy you all came to the comet viewing party tonight. We’re really lucky to see something as wonderful as this.”
“Yona so excited to watch comet!” the yak said happily.
Gallus laid back on the grass and looked upwards, “It’s cooler than I thought it’d be.”
“It’s so bright!” Silverstream said excitedly.
Smolder settled in on the grass, next to Sandbar. “Yeah, it’s something I’m glad I got to see. You know there’s some stories about comets in dragon mythology?” the dragon spoke as she looked upwards at the comet.
“Really?” Professor Fluttershy sounded interested, “Do you mind sharing some of those stories?”
“Well, it’s sort of linked to the story of Hofn, the warrior who fought on behalf of all dragons against the gods themselves. While he died protecting all of dragonkind, the gods had respect for Hofn’s courage and bravery that with his body, they crafted the Dragonlands,” Smolder explained.
“Whoa….” Yona commented.
Ocellus seemed surprised about the details of the myth, “Goodness….”
“Really? That’s pretty gruesome,” Sandbar noted with a slight chuckle in his voice.
Smolder couldn’t help but also give a bit of a laugh, “I didn’t say it was exactly a happy story.” There was a bit of laughter from each creature around. “Anyway, the gods felt that Hofn’s actions were proof that all of dragonkind was worthy of their protection. To create a new home for the dragons, they fashioned the Dragonlands from his body. Let’s see….I think that old rhyme went ‘Out of Hofn’s flesh, the ground below,/And from his blood the lava flow,/Mountains from his marrow,/Out of his scales the grass grow,/His skull hangs above hollow,/Protecting all dragons below.’”
“That’s kinda awesome!” Gallus admitted.
The dragon finished, “Well, as time went on, Hofn’s skull started to break overtime, and the stars were created from pieces falling down. Each time there is a comet passing by, another piece of Hofn’s skull has broken off. That’s how the myth goes, anyway.”
“That’s so fascinating to hear, Smolder,” Professor Fluttershy stated, “Thank you for sharing all of that with us.”
“Yes, thank you. I never knew that about dragon culture,” Ocellus said. “Perhaps I should look more into dragon mythology.”
“Yona like the fighting in the story!”
Smolder seemed a bit bashful at the attention and praise from each creature.
Professor Fluttershy spoke up again, “I truly find it so great that how the comet that is seen all over can have different meanings to the different cultures throughout. Princess Celestia always shared that comets often signify changes, both good and bad. I do hope that his comet here is a good omen for each and every one of us.”
As the professor trotted off to another group of students, leaving the six. They chatted amongst each other about the comet as well as what both Smolder and Professor Fluttershy had said. The earth pony pulled out his sketchbook from the saddlebag. With the soft light from the dim lanterns, he opened up the book to a blank page. Smolder saw Sandbar doing all of this next to her.
“Find something for you to draw out here?” Smolder asked with a smirk.
Sandbar shrugged with a slight guilty expression, “What can I say? Your story inspired me.” The pony started to move the pencil across the page, “After all, this comet is really something. Whether it’s some object in outer space, or a piece of a skull from a great dragon hero falling to the ground, it’s pretty beautiful.”
The dragon looked at the parchment that Sandbar was drawing upon, and then at him. She softly smiled, “It really is.”
END