//------------------------------// // It's Not Much // Story: A Star Pony Tale // by BlondeSky //------------------------------// Chapter 18 It's Not Much Once inside the school they funneled into their various classrooms and took their seats. Astro took her place behind Spot and beside Kara still with a glad smile on her face. Her optimism was prevailing and she couldn't have been much happier in that moment. At the front of the classroom, as per usual, Ms. Rule called the roll and each student responded as their name was called. Astro answered to her name almost instantly as it was called towards the front of the list. She waited painstakingly until after the roll call was over to continue her conversation with Kara. "So, you got to…?" Astro asked in a whisper as Ms. Rule started the listen. "Oh, yeah! I gotta try Tae Kwon Do! It was pretty cool!" she replied excitedly, but still in a whisper tone. "That's really cool!" she told her with the same level of excitement despite the fact that she didn't know what that meant. She made a mental note to ask Sail about it after school had ended and she had picked her up. Slightly nervous she bit her lip, but quickly dismissed the butterflies and spoke again. "You know how you said that you thought I might be able to be an artist?" she began as she started to pull the work out of her saddlebag carefully. "What? Oh! Yeah, why?" she said cocking her head in confusion. "Well, I thought I'd try it out." she told her nervously as she placed the paper on her desk. "Really!?" she exclaimed earning the both of them a pointed look from the teacher. "Would you two like to share your conversation with the class?" Ms. Rule asked the both of them. Spot looked back and gave them a sympathetic look. Astro was mortified with the prospect of having to share the drawing with the class. Looking it over she started to find all of the imperfections that one might notice. "No ma'am." Kara answered looking down at her hooves, "Sorry." "Just don't do it again alright." Ms. Rule instructed. "I won't ma'am." she replied with a solemn nod. "Thank you," she said with a warm smile, "Now, where was I?" she continued turning back towards the board. "Sorry, about that." Kara mumbled turning to Astro with an apologetic look on her face. "It's fine, but, um, aren't we supposed to not do it again?" Astro queried nervously as she looked up at Ms. Rule by the blackboard. "Nah, we're just supposed to make sure that she doesn't notice again." she said with her excited demeanor returning. "So, can I see it?" she asked her expression eager. "You promise to keep quiet?" she questioned holding her paper to her chest. Kara nodded holding out a hoof under her desk so that she could take it. "I don't want the whole class to see this." she told her in a quiet voice. "They won't." Kara promised as she took the paper from her hooves. She laid it out on her desk and her eyes widened as she looked it over. She had a silly smile on her face that was almost impossibly wide. It looked like she was having problems holding her silence. "This is amazing!" she said excitedly in a whisper tone as she wore her bright grin. Looking over she beamed at Astro asking, "You really drew this?" "Yeah, but it's not that great." she argued. "But it's so cool looking!" she retorted. "I-I guess." she replied bashfully as she blushed and looked down at her hooves. "That is really good." Kara finished in an awed tone as she passed the paper back to Astro. She stowed it back in her saddlebag with a relieved sigh as their continued conversation had gone unnoticed by Ms. Rule. She then quickly returned her attention to the front and to the teacher. It didn't take long for her to catch up so that if asked questions she could answer them adequately. The attention however was only maintained temporarily. "Hey Astro, aren't you going to show it to Spot?" she asked giving her a questioning look. "Yes, but I don't want to disturb him right now." she answered. "Just tap him on the shoulder. He'll turn around." she promised gesturing for Astro to do so. "Aren't we supposed to not be noticed? She'll see if he turns around to talk to me. It's not exactly inconspicuous." she argued. "Inconspicuous?" she asked confused. "Discreet." she explained. "Still not getting it." she said. "I'm saying that she'll see it if I try and do that." she clarified. "Then just give it to him!" she retorted exasperatedly. "How exactly?" she shot back. "Over his shoulder." she said still with an exasperated look on her face. "That's not going to work either." she answered frowning. "You know that I can hear both of you right?" came a voice from in front of them. He hadn't turned around, but was still speaking to them, "I sit right here, and you guys aren't as quiet as you think. That's why Ms. Rule heard you. You can bring it out to recess and I'll look then. I just want to pay attention right now. Okay?" "That's fine." Astro answered. "Yeah, whatever." Kara muttered sitting back in her chair and rolling her eyes. After the exchange silence fell over the group. This allowed Astro a bit of time to again look up to the front of class and listen as the teacher taught. Checking the clock she found that there was around half an hour until recess. Unfortunately that meant that she had half an hour to stew. She had received nothing but nice comments on the work, but she still worried anyways. She didn't expect him to say anything mean either, however she still wanted him to be impressed by what she had created. Pulling it out of her saddlebag she again diverted her attention from the front to look it over. Just as when asked if she wanted to share everything that was wrong suddenly came to her attention. A thought came to her to simply not show it to him, but she knew that was simply not an option. Having already agreed to show it to him she couldn't back out that easily. Maybe it'd be better if I just showed it to him quickly and didn't let myself back out, she thought as she started to tap her pencil on her desk nervously. Looking up from her work she gazed nervously at him. She really wished that she could just get it over with, but the time wouldn't pass fast enough. Again she turned to the clock only to find that in what had felt like an hour only fifteen minutes had passed. She sighed as her brow crinkled in worry and she waited for the rest of the eternity to pass. She continued to tap her pencil on her desk in worry, but tried her best to listen to Ms. Rule. Her attempt to pay attention was fairly unsuccessful, but it helped slightly. It still felt as though another eon had passed before they finally got to go out for recess. Swallowing her nerves she grabbed her drawing and headed for the doorway outside with the others. When they got outside they sat down where the picnic tables were and she pulled out the paper nervously. "Well are you gonna show him or not?" Kara asked rolling her eyes. "I am." she retorted almost shoving it at him in a hurry to prove that she would indeed show it to him. He looked at the paper and just as Kara's had his eyes widened when he saw the drawing. "You drew this?" he asked looking astonished. "Yeah, but it's not much." she mumbled bashfully. "But this is really good!" he argued. "Thanks." she said gratefully before taking the picture back from him, "It's not that important either, I just wanted to show you guys to ask you what you think." "Yeah, now c'mon we're wasting valuable time that we could be using running around!" Kara agreed with a grin. With that the trio took off onto the playground running happily after each other. For the rest of the day as they spoke the drawing seemed to have been entirely forgotten. Neither of her friends mentioned it and that seemed to be the end of it as they simply talked for the rest of the day. When the day was over she bid them a happy farewell knowing that she would see them the next day. They trotted off to their respective families and she looked over to see Sail standing on the sidewalk leading up to the school. She trotted up to her beaming. "You look like you have had a good day." Sail commented as Astro walked up. "Yeah, it was pretty good." she agreed with a grin. "I'm glad." she said pulling her closer and giving her a small nuzzle, "I assume those two foals that you were with just then were your friends." "Yeah, the pegasus was Spot and the unicorn was Kara. They're both really nice." she informed her. "Did they like that drawing that you brought to show them?" she asked looking down at her companion. "Yeah, they thought that it was pretty cool." she admitted a little bashfully. "I thought that they might. You have a talent, but you will have to practice to become great with it. I'm sure that you will make the effort though." she told her. "Thanks, I will. I promise!" she said proudly and standing up a little straighter as she said so. "That's good." Sail replied still wearing a warm smile. Silence fell over them for a minute. Shortly after it had however it was broken by Sail humming that all too familiar tune. She wondered what its significance was to her, but said nothing and instead just listened. She was still humming it as they turned into a shadowy backstreet to be used as cover. Once hidden in its shadow the two teleported down to the base. They had left by teleporting into a similar looking alleyway earlier that morning. Once inside Sail dropped the melody and reopened the conversation asking, "Were you assigned any homework today? I'd be happy to help you with it if you have any." "I don't have any, but thank you for the offer. I appreciate it." she answered truthfully. "If, you don't have any homework that you need to get done I could go and show you where I work. I believe that you would be interested in seeing it." she offered. "Really!?" she asked excitedly. She had wanted to see more of the base than her room, but hadn't wanted to wander around and cause problems. "Of course. We can stop by your room first and drop off your things. Then we can go to the sorting room where I work." Sail told her. With that Astro trotted off to her room enthusiastically with an eager grin on her face.