A Star Pony Tale

by BlondeSky

Soidifying Relationships

Chapter 5

Solidifying Relationships

As the day went on Polaris found herself conversing with Kara more and more. It was a good pass time that helped her to learn as she tried to steer the conversation towards things she didn't understand and get her to explain them without obviously asking what they were. For example: "Why do you want a cutie mark so much?" she asked hoping to get a definition.

"Why do I want one!? Are you kidding me!? If you have a cutie mark that means that you're grown up! It shows that you finally know who you are! You can't get when until you figure out what makes you special and who doesn't want to be unique!?" she retorted rolling her eyes.

"Well, I feel pretty good just like I am." she replied simply as a rebuff. With each sentence that passed she grew more confident and comfortable in her place. When lunch time arrived she sat next to Kara and the filly offered her an apple to eat. Most of the time was spent in the classroom however. Kara did most of the talking as they conversed, but that allowed more time for Polaris to figure everything out and analyze her habits. Despite that she had found enjoyment in the filly's company she still had a task of observation to complete and that was her main priority.

"Alright class!" Ms. Rule called from the front of the class interrupting their conversation, "Time for recess!" Everypony cheered in response and headed for the door in excitement, Kara included. Unsure of what was happening Polaris just followed suit as with every other sudden variable thrown at her. She walked behind Kara as the hyperactive filly trotted energetically into the grassy area at the back of the school. As the entirety of the class stepped out into the yard Kara turned back and smiled widely at Polaris. "Now that we're at recess I can show you everypony." she informed her eagerly. She grabbed her hoof and dragged her over to the center of the playground where you could clearly see all that were running around.

"That's Dusk Dark over there." she said pointing at a dark brown unicorn colt with a pitch black mane skulking not too far from the swing set. "He's not the nicest pony," she whispered, "if I were you I'd avoid him. Then there's Spirit Stream!" she exclaimed gesturing to another unicorn colt who was standing directly to the right of the bright red metal bars that swings hung down from. He looked to be concentrating as his horn sparked slightly. His coat was such a pale purple that you really had to look to even see that it was there. His mane was wavy and such a pale white that it was almost translucent. "He's pretty shy and doesn't talk to all that many ponies. He's already learning how to do magic though which is really cool! He's the only one in class that's already doing that." She then moved her hoof to a pair of ponies running around together. One was a black coated earth pony filly with a messy and white mane and tail, and the other a red unicorn with a dark brown and curly mane and tail. "Those two are pretty good friends. The unicorn's Ruby Ore, and the earth pony's Soul Striker. Both of them are pretty nice most of the time, but Soul sometimes blows up at ponies. I don't think she means it, but sometimes she just says things without really thinking about it. She normally apologizes afterwards." After explaining those two she turned to the pinto pegasus on the swing set. He was repeatedly getting the swing as high as it would go and then jumping off and trying to glide down, but was rather unsuccessful. "That's Spot Light. He's kind of a loner most of the time. I don't really talk to him all that much." she dropped her voice again as she continued speaking, "I don't wanna be mean, but he's kind of not really the best flier. He tries really hard, but he's just not really good at it. That's why he's doing that actually. Normally whenever he gets a chance he practices." She scanned the playground for the next pony that she would show to Astro, but then noticed something and gasped. "There's swings left! There's almost never swings left! Let's go!"

She dragged Polaris over to the swing set to grab the two remaining swings that weren't being used. At the last moment she ran forward ahead of her and grabbed both of them like somepony else was going to take them. "We got them!" she cried excitedly. She moved closer to one and offered the other to Polaris. Kara quickly clambered onto hers, but Polaris didn't exactly know what to do. She climbed on and just sat there as Kara swung back and forth in hers. She didn't really mind though, she was content with just watching. Almost this whole experience had been a relaxing break from her typical routine, and despite her original wariness Kara had ended up being a nice pony to bump into. Although there were several glaring differences between the two she did enjoy the surface world as much as her own even for as short as she'd been there.

She heard a crash interrupting her thoughts and cringed as she looked over at the pegasus colt. He had failed to glide successfully down once more and had slid across the grass on his front. He just got back up unfazed and trotted back over to the swing. He already looked pretty scraped up from previous failed attempts at flight. "Are you alright?" she asked carefully.

He looked over at her a little startled, "What? Oh… yeah. I'm fine."

"You know that you don't have to jump off, cause then you won't hurt yourself." she told him kindly.

"Yeah, I know." he replied looking embarrassed.

"Maybe you could try it?" she offered hopefully.

"I guess." he agreed, but mostly so that he wouldn't attract attention. He sat down on the swing without another word and started to swing back and forth on it. She looked over at him and tried to imitate the motion. She grinned slightly as she started to gather momentum and swing the same way as the ponies on either side of her.

"There you go Astro!" Kara shouted excitedly as she looked over at her. She smiled widely at her as she picked up speed. Polaris just watched as Kara continually tried to get the swing higher.

"You're the new kid right?" he asked looking over at her.

She nodded, "Yes I am."

"Well… welcome then." he told her with a small smile.

"Thanks." she replied gratefully, "I never got your name."

"It's Spot, you sit behind me in class." he informed her.

"Cool, maybe we can talk, but only when Ms. Rule's not looking." she responded remembering Kara's warning.

"But you're not supposed to talk while you're in class." he argued.

"That's why you have to wait till she's not looking." she reasoned with a small grin.

"I don't know." he stated warily.

"That's fine, I wasn't sure either, but Kara didn't really give me a choice." she promised.

"Hey!" Kara interjected.

"It's true." she retorted. Kara stuck her tongue out and the both of them started to laugh. Spot looked on and smiled a little bit. Polaris found herself practically bursting from the amount of joy around her. It was such a wonderful feeling and she had never felt in such multitudes as that moment before. She could feel it in the air around her and even as recess ended and all of the students were pulled back inside.

For the rest of the day she conversed with her two new friends learning of their world and a little bit of their daily lives, although Spot was far more reluctant to talk during lessons. Slowly the research project just became a vacation day with which to simply enjoy life. When the school day came to a close she walked out with the both of her newfound friends. It hadn't been nearly long enough when they had to leave. "I'm sorry guys," Kara apologized, "I gotta go now, my parents are waiting, but I'll see you tomorrow right?" she asked excitedly. Spot nodded, but Polaris didn't want to have to lie to either of them. She just gave a sort of wide smile that they took as confirmation. Kara waved goodbye and then took off to where her parents stood.

"I have to go too," Spot told her, "So, see you tomorrow I guess." he finished before trotting off.

Polaris moved to head home as well before hearing her pseudonym and halting. She walked towards the voice and listened carefully to what was being said. "Are you sure?" a voice, which she recognized as Ms. Rule's, asked worriedly.

"Completely, there wasn't any Astro Color that was supposed to be starting here today. I sincerely doubt it's that we just misplaced paper work or something of the sort. She shouldn't have been here." a stallion's voice answered with a tone of finality to it. Polaris blanched as she realized that they had indeed discovered that she didn't belong. She cantered off, utterly terrified, without a second thought hoping that she wouldn't be caught. Teleportation would've been faster, but there were far too many ponies in the area for her to feel comfortable doing so. Fear propelled her as she galloped straight back to the wood she had come from.

She slowed down as she disappeared into what she then knew to be called trees. She took a deep breath calming herself as she started to walk. Despite her very best efforts they had still discovered that she didn't belong there. Still, she thought of the friends that she'd be leaving behind. She tried to push the thoughts away as she walked to the teleport. There's no point in getting emotional, she told herself. She walked into the clearing and found the inconspicuous looking rock and laid a hoof on it.

Author's Note:

From now on I'm going to try and upload a chapter every other day if I can, but I can't make any solid promises. There aren't going to be any super long breaks in between chapters though. So if all goes well the next chapter should be out Wednesday! Just a bit of a status update. It'll be easier once schools out most likely. Anyways, hope you liked the chapter!

^_^ Thanks, BlondeSky