//------------------------------// // Doubled // Story: A Star Pony Tale // by BlondeSky //------------------------------// Chapter 24 Doubled When Astro awoke it was early as per usual, but that day instead of getting up and working on various things she remained where she was in bed. She had no desire to allow herself to wake up and experience the confusion and despair from what she had learned the previous night. She would much rather just lay there and let her dreams take her away. That was exactly what she did too as she drifted in and out of consciousness for the time that led up to the start of school. She was hoping that her slumber would help to make the time seem to go by faster until school started. She didn't want to have to spend any more time in the tense atmosphere than she had to. Another thing she had to look forward to there was an occupied mind. Free time to think was one thing that she didn't need. So instead of acknowledging the world around her she simply slept. Still even in her half-conscious state some of Sail's words worked their way through her mind. However if a pony were to wander from us and remain on their own for a while then they might very well change. Our difference from them is purely environmental. Those quotes wormed their way through her subconscious as she drifted in and out of awareness. The warnings faded into nothing as they were far outmatched by what were in her mind were the rewards. That is why our coats glow in the moonlight and theirs don't. But now it was possible for her to be a part of them. Any and all consequences of such a decision paled in comparison to the possibility of becoming completely normal for their society. All of this ran through her mind as she dreamt. When Sail came by to take her to school that was how she found her. She was quite stunned to find her still in bed as she had always been up and about much earlier than that. "Astro?" she asked walking up to the bed and tapping her shoulder with her nose. "W-what?" she mumbled sleepily. She lifted her head to see who it was that had spoken. Upon seeing Sail standing at her bedside and looking at her in concern she shot up. She looked towards the clock that was on the wall above the door. Seeing that it was when they normally left for school she jumped out of the bed to get herself ready. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to oversleep! It won't happen again I promise!" she apologized as she ran around the room trying to get herself ready quickly. "It's fine. Did you not sleep well last night?" she inquired worriedly. "N-no I slept fine." she paused after she had finished not wanting to admit that she had simply not wanted to get up. Luckily she found something to fill the space as she had just finished throwing on her saddlebags. "I'm ready to go." she proclaimed turning around and offering a smile that she didn't necessarily believe. "Then we had best be going." Sail finished before walking from the room with Astro on her heels. They exited the base and teleported onto the streets of the city. Once there, just like every morning, conversation was sparse as Sail started to hum and the filly allowed her mind to wander. That day however she tried to keep her thoughts to ones of her friends who were waiting for her arrival. She was having a hard time doing that however and wished for a conversation to occupy her mentality. She struck one up herself by asking a question that had been burning in her mind for a while. "What's that song?" she asked turning to look up at Sail. The mare's walk slowed as the question sunk in. She stopped humming and looked to meet Astro's eyes. "It is an old star pony lullaby." she answered simply, but she saw in the filly's eyes that she wanted to know more than that. She turned her gaze forward to find the school looming just ahead. She sighed tiredly before looking back over at her. "It is too long a story to be told right now. You don't want to be late for school or miss any time that you could be spending with your friends. I will do my best to finish my work quickly so that I might be able to tell you this tale once school is over." she told her. "Okay." she answered more than satisfied that she would get to hear the story. "I will be waiting for you once the day is over." she finished before walking off to return to the base and striking up the tune once more. She trotted off into the crowd of ponies no longer wanting the school day to last forever. In fact at that point she couldn't wait for the day to be over. She quickly scolded herself for thinking that however as she still valued any time that could be spent with her friends. Knowing that Spot would be in the crowd she looked through it for him and quickly found him there as well. When she located him however she was surprised to find that he wasn't alone. Ink stood next to him and the two were talking with each other. She would've been lying if she had said that she wasn't at least the tiniest bit upset that she wasn't the first pony there to see him. Still, she didn't let it get to her and walked up to the talking pair smiling. "Hello!" she called to them smiling. "Hey!" the two replied together. She trotted up and took her place in the group still smiling. "So I guess the other two aren't here yet then?" she asked since she didn't see either of them. "Nope, I mean Kara is always almost late, but we haven't seen Diplo since we got here." Spot answered, "She got here a little while ago." "Yeah, I normally get to school pretty early." Ink told her. "I'm normally here right about now." she answered, "I'm pretty good with mornings." "I think that's a good trait to have." she told her grinning brightly. Astro laughed, "You mean as opposed to being grouchy and drowsy till late afternoon? Yeah, I think so too." The other two snickered a little bit as well. "Did I miss something important?" asked a voice beside them. They all turned startled to find Diplo had joined them without their notice while they'd been laughing. "Nothing really, just made a little joke." Astro supplied offering a smile. He returned the gesture with a slight grin. "Okay. Good." he replied still holding that tiny smile. "Good to see ya this morning." Ink greeted him cheerily. "Same." he agreed nodding his head slightly, "Where's Kara?" he asked noticing that she was the only one missing. "Right there." Spot pointed out seeing her as she came up, "Which means that the bell to let us in is going to ring at any moment." They were let inside just on schedule, not even a moment after she joined the group. They were then hustled inside by the moving crowd and went their separate ways to their classrooms. Astro took her seat next to Ink and remained there in silence as the two listened to the teacher until lunch, when she could see her friends again. The time seemed to pass even more slowly with Sail's promise biting at the back of her mind. She had things waiting for her and so time did what always did when one was waiting and slowed to almost a stand still. She endured in silence as the teacher spoke at the front as well as participating when asked to. The minutes still wouldn't pass fast enough. Two eons had passed before they were released to go to lunch. When they did enter however she trotted eagerly over to where their three friends were already sitting. Ink moved to sit across from Kara and next to Diplo. She opted to sit in between Kara and Spot. "Hey, how's your day been?" she asked upon sitting down. "Alright, but my teacher's kind of a total neat freak and nopony will talk to me either." Kara replied in slight annoyance. "I'm sorry." she said in sympathy. "Why couldn't you be in my class like every other year!?" she complained pouting. "It's not a bad thing to pay attention to the teacher you know." Diplo cut in. They were both shocked by this, but Astro did a much better job of masking the surprise. "He's right." Spot agreed breaking the awkward silence. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." she retorted rolling her eyes and leaning back to sulk. The only problem was there no backs on the seats around the lunch tables. She tumbled down to the floor eliciting a laugh from everypony at the table. Even the reserved unicorn colt snickered a bit. "Not funny." she said glaring at all of them. "Here, let me help you." Ink said still laughing as she got up to help her. She walked around the table to help Kara back to her seat. "Thanks." she mumbled embarrassedly as she again took her seat next to Astro. Ink then returned to her spot across from her. "You know if you'd been paying attention to the fact that there wasn't anything to lean on you wouldn't have fallen over." Spot pointed out. She just glared in response. "Alright, I think she gets the point." Astro said calming her friend down, but still laughing silently to herself. She was about to reopen the conversation but then several ponies got up from the tables. "I think that's us." Diplo commented looking upset. "Yeah, it is." Spot confirmed. "Too bad." Ink commented frowning. "Yeah." Diplo agreed, but then with a hopeful smile he asked, "But we'll see you guys later right?" "Of course." Astro promised smiling genuinely. "Great." he finished before taking off with Spot after their class. And they did indeed see each other later that day. At recess they ran and played together, but after that there was only time to wait. She was overjoyed that he seemed to have opened up, but her joy was soon overcome with excited anxiety. She could hardly wait to hear what Sail had to tell her. She tried to redirect her thoughts to her friends and think about the fun that she'd had with them as opposed to the time until school would let out. It was then that she realized something. She had made two new friends over the past two days. At that point she had four friends to surrounded herself with. That was twice what she had previously. It's also twice the number of ponies that you have to lie to, a voice in the back of her mind whispered. No, she thought, I'm not about to let this moment be shattered. She smiled giddily the more she thought about it and suddenly the remaining time didn't seem to take nearly as long. In almost no time at all she was out in front of the school bidding goodbye to all four of her friends before they went their separate ways. Sail noticed this congregation as well as the two new ponies to the group. "Who were those two new foals?" she questioned. "Oh those are my two new friends Diplo, and Ink." she informed her with a wide smile, "I met them yesterday, they're both really nice." "I'm glad that you've made some new friends." she replied as she gave the filly a nuzzle. Silence fell between the two for a moment before Astro broke it. "So?" she asked expectantly. "Yes, I know. I have finished my work for today, but before I tell you what I have to say let us return to the base. Once we are in your room I will begin my story for you. There are two parts to it and to both you must listen carefully. I will not begin either however until we should be back." she said with finality. And so they spent the rest of their trip in silence without even a melody to break it. When they arrived in Astro's room she quickly took her seat eager for the story to begin. Sail followed suit and sat next to her before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. She took a moment before opening them. She then looked to the filly ready to begin her tale.