A Star Pony Tale

by BlondeSky

Up and Up

Chapter 17

Up and Up

Astro awoke the next morning quite early as she always did. That morning however she was excited to begin her day knowing that she would soon be seeing her friends again. Of course she did also know that school wouldn't be starting for a few hours, but she got up and began to prepare herself anyways. She still had a part of the mirror left to look at and started getting herself ready for the coming day. A smile crept onto her face as she thought of seeing her two friends once more. The thought that she would be seeing them consistently for the foreseeable future made her smile widen a little bit more. Wanting to see them had been a large motivator in her decision to move to the surface. After having brushed her mane she pulled the cap on over her head her grin still growing.

For her at that moment things were looking up and only improving. After having spent the better part of the previous day speaking with Sail she had really taking a liking to her. She seemed to have a kind heart and a patient and sweet disposition. She was relieved to have her as a mentor, or at least the surface equivalent to one. It wasn't hard for her to speak with her and she greatly appreciated her willingness to answer her questions. The filly looked forward to being toured around the base later that day. Then of course for her school was nothing short of astounding. She had heard other students grumbling about the fact that they had to go, but she didn't understand their frustration. In her mind it was perfect.

She sighed happily as she thought about all that had happened. Sure she did miss North and continued to wonder about what was happening on the Astral Plain, but she felt significantly more comfortable in her position. The filly felt no need to be concerned as she had her friends and a mentor who did seem to care about her. It wasn't a perfect situation, but she was more than happy with where she was. In the act of taking off from the Astral Plain she had been more than certain that her life on the surface would be exceedingly difficult, but she had managed to find her way to The Wish Division. It was such a lucky break and she couldn't have been happier to have been taken in by them.

Then however Sail's words came to her mind. What place do the stars have messing in the affairs of others that we know nothing of? I would prefer that we stay away from their business and keep to our own. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but decided to think about it later. She was feeling rather good about life in that moment and didn't want to have it ruined by dismal thoughts. She did however know that the thought would continue to hover in the back of her mind until she settled it. That was okay with her as she knew she would settle the thought, but at that moment she didn't need to. Right then she just wanted to enjoy what she currently had in happiness.

Seeing that she still had a few hours more of Sail's words came to her mind. If you take that into consideration it is fairly good actually. At least that is what I would say. That money is for you to use at your own convenience. I wouldn't discount paints as an option. Moving aside the materials on the dresser she grabbed another piece of paper. A quill and ink were also retrieved so that she could start to work. Her concentration was unbreakable as she went to work. She chose yet another of her original drawings to redo at a higher caliber of quality. It took almost no time for her brain to tone out everything that wasn't the paper in front of her. It went on that way as she drew for a while.

The sound of the door opening startled her so horribly that she nearly jumped out of her hooves. Sail noticed this and promptly apologized to her saying, "I'm sorry to have alarmed you so. I just wanted to make sure that you were getting ready to leave for school." She paused for a moment as she noticed what Astro was doing. "Are you drawing again?" she inquired curious.

"Oh… yes. I got a little bit absorbed in what I was doing. I am ready to go to school however." she promised pushing the unfinished drawing away and grabbing her saddlebags. She had already finished another one and it was sitting out to dry.

"May I see?" she asked stepping forward to look.

"Sure, I did it all this morning. This isn't quite done yet though. I can, uh, finish it later I guess." she said moving it in Sail's direction so that she could look it over.

As Sail examined it she grabbed the dry one that she'd made the previous morning and stowed it carefully in her saddlebag so that it wouldn't get messed up. Looking through them she found that she did have everything that she need and quickly hefted them onto her back. She then grabbed her necklace and put it around her throat. Then she looked over to find Sail still gazing intently at her work. "Why did you grab that?" she queried not taking her eyes off of the page in front of her.

"Oh, I, uh, wanted to show them to Kara. She's one of my friends at school. She mentioned that I might be able to be an artist. I thought that I could show it to her and ask her what she thinks." she answered.

"One of your friends?" she asked giving her a questioning look.

"Yeah, I've got two friends at school, Kara and Spot. They're both really nice." she answered beaming happily.

"Then who would I be to keep you from them." she finished with a kind smile, "We should get down to school."

-/|\-

As they reached the school building Sail stopped and Astro followed suit. She could see the various students waiting outside until the doors were opened. She couldn't help looking for her two friends and hoping that they'd be there. "I will let you get off to your friends now. I will be right here to pick you up after school. I do now however have to return back home. If anypony happens to be curious I am your aunt. Okay?"

"Okay." she said with a nervous nod.

"Then I will see you after school." she said leaning down and giving Astro a light kiss on her forehead, "You go run along now." she finished with a warm smile. Astro nodded and trotted off, but her eyes were wide as saucers and she stumbled slightly before gaining her footing.

Looking back she saw that Sail had already disappeared, not that she had expected her to wait. She had never received a gesture such as that, but understood that it was one of affection. What did it mean that Sail had given it to her? Yes, Sail was her mentor, but did that warrant what she had just been given? She hadn't known her for very long. Did Sail just consider it to be a cheap gesture? No, she thought, Sail doesn't seem like she would do that for no reason. But who's to say that I really know Sail, she then questioned herself. She sighed in confusion, but quickly wondered why she had done so. It's meant to show affection, she reasoned, and Sail just gave it to me, why am I stewing? This is amazing, she thought giddily.

So it was that she trotted into the crowd of foals with an impossibly large smile on her face. It didn't take her long to find Spot in the crowd. "Hey!" she called over to him. He had been standing by his lonesome so she wasn't drawing him away from anything.

"Oh! Hey!" he replied seeing her there and walking over, "How was your weekend?" he asked brightly.

"Pretty good actually, I spent a lot of it at… home." she answered still smiling, "How was yours?"

"Pretty alright I guess, wasn't really doing much." he told her with a shrug.

"Oh. That's too bad." she responded.

"I don't mind not being busy. It's nice to have some to relax." he promised reassuringly.

"Cool. Yeah, I like keeping myself busy, but it is good to relax now and again." she agreed. Silence fell between them as she finished speaking.

She thought for a moment before interrupting the silence to ask him a question, "Since you had some free time on your hooves did you get any flying practice in?" She gave him a warm smile as she spoke.

"What?" he blanched and looked down at his hooves, "Well, a little bit, but I, uh, I've never really enjoyed flying that much." he muttered.

"Neither have I." she reassured him.

"Really?" he questioned shocked as his gaze shot up from the ground to meet hers. He looked excited, but quickly masked the expression with one of mere mild interest, "I mean, um, that's nice. A lot of the other pegasi, that's all they talk about."

"I know, but I don't get what's so great about it." she replied with a shrug. She looked over at him and could see that he was trying to maintain his look of disinterest, but was having a difficult time doing so.

"Yeah, I don't get it either." he agreed a small almost giddy smile reaching his lips.

Astro opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off as Kara exploded into their conversation. "I'm here! I'm not late!" she proclaimed victoriously. "Hey guys! How long've you been waiting?"

"Oh, not too long." Astro promised, "Is there are a reason why you're always just barely on time?"

"Well… I kind of just sorta throw stuff around when I'm using it. It normally takes a while to get my school stuff together." she admitted scratching the back of her head.

"Really?" Spot asked laughing.

"Whatever." she dismissed him with a snort of annoyance.

"So, how was your weekend?" Astro asked snickering a bit herself.

"Pretty great! I got to-" she began before being cut off by the bell.

All the students started to rush inside the school and they were herded along with the others. It wasn't a good idea to try and resist the flow of traffic. Remembering the times that their conversation had been cut off by that bell and the consequential push into the school Astro laughed silently to herself. Every single time, she thought happily.