See How the Night Sky Glows

Chapters

Chapter 1: Welcome to Canterlot
Chapter 2: New School and New Friends
Chapter 3: Acquainted with the Night
Chapter 4: Deep Freeze
Chapter 5: Rivals and Revelations
Chapter 6: The Fight
Chapter 7: Girl-to-Guy Advice
Chapter 8: See How the Night Sky Glows
Chapter 9: Dirty Rumors, Part I
Chapter 10: Dirty Rumors, Part II
Chapter 11: Home Alone with You
Chapter 12: Night at Apartment 17
Chapter 13: The Spring Fling Fiasco, Part I
This story is canceled

Chapter 1: Welcome to Canterlot

It was a cool Friday afternoon in Manebridge, and the last day before the usual February school vacation. At the front door of Manebridge High School, three friends stood together for what would likely be the last time for a while.

"Well, I'd say these past few years have been... interesting, to say the least." said one of the boys to his two friends. He had sky blue hair with a black streak on either side. "Anyway, I've got to go now. Party, Double, see you boys later."

"See you, Sky." said the boy with curly dark blue hair, whose name was Party Favor. "Just don't get into any locker room bust-ups and you'll do okay!"

"Oh, put a sock in it, Party!" Sky Scraper laughed. "That was all the way back in sixth grade. Besides, you're no better. Remember when you punched Feather Bangs because you thought he was trying to steal Sugar Belle from you?"

"He's got you there." said Double Diamond, a boy with white hair. "And that was last year, too."

Party sighed with defeat. "Fine, fine. You got me. Especially because it turned out Sugar didn't like either of us. Boy, I was stupid, wasn't I?"

"Well, to put it frankly... yes." Sky chuckled. "Anyway, I'd best be off. My vacation week of packing and moving awaits me."

Double smiled. "You know, Canterlot's a lot bigger than Manebridge. Try not to get swallowed up in the crowd." he joked.

"Oh, please!" said Sky. "I'm not that incompetent! Besides, there'll be no Starlight Glimmer there, so there's a limit to how bad it can be!"

"True that." Party agreed.

Sky waved goodbye to his friends as he walked down the street to the parking lot. He found his mom's car parked near the entrance and climbed in. Then he was off to go home and begin the long and arduous process of moving apartments.

Sky's father, Air Raider, had recently been laid off at his workplace, which had been forced to cut many employees to avoid going bankrupt. However, it wasn't long before he found a new job in the city of Canterlot. As a result of this change, the family had to move from Manebridge, because not only were the two towns very distant from each other, but virtually the only way to commute between them was via Highway 131, which was well-known across the state of Manesachusetts for being incredibly slow and crowded during rush hour.

Sky had actually lived in Canterlot once before, because when he was very young, his father had also had a job there. But by the time Sky had started school he'd moved to Manebridge. Now he was moving back to Canterlot, and in an odd way it felt like coming home again.

By Tuesday of February vacation week, Sky and his parents had finished moving into their new apartment. It was located in the Somnambula Building, a twelve-story glass apartment building situated on the outskirts of the urban side of Canterlot. The apartments themselves were quite large, with tall ceilings, and each floor only had two. Sky's apartment was number 17, on the ninth floor, and had a great view overlooking the suburbs. Sky soon grew to love sitting out on the balcony at night, looking out at the stars in the sky and the lights from the suburbs below.

During the last few days of the vacation week, Sky enjoyed taking long walks through the town, exploring each and every corner and curve of Canterlot. Even after all these years, it was just as beautiful as he'd remembered it. In addition, the weather was unusually warm for February, which made the town seem even more cheerful and vibrant. Day or night, Sky enjoyed himself enormously.

It was now Sunday, and the last day before school began again tomorrow. For Sky, tomorrow would be his first day at Canterlot High, and today he was to be given a tour of the school by two girls. Since the weather was nice and the school was actually only a few blocks away, Sky decided to walk there. As he exited the lobby of the Somnambula Building and walked down the street, he wondered what Canterlot High would be like. He hoped it would be easier to make friends than it had been at Manebridge High.

When Sky reached the front door of the school, nobody was there, so he found a bench and sat down. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began browsing the Formula One website for the latest news about car launches and winter testing.

"Damn, the new Ferrari looks nice!" he said to himself. He was still browsing various news articles when he heard two female voices in the distance.

"Come on, Bonnie! Don't you want to meet the new guy?"

"Well, Lyra, maybe I just don't feel like running!"

Sky looked up just as a girl with minty green hair came into view, followed by a girl with curly blue and pink hair. As soon as Sky saw the minty-haired girl, he felt his heart skip a beat and he couldn't help but blush a bit. She was really cute, probably the cutest girl he'd seen in a long time.

The two girls sat down on either side of Sky. "Hi!" said the minty-haired one on Sky's left. "Are you the new student?"

"Well... yes." said Sky. "Are you two here to give me a tour of the school?"

"Yep!" the minty-haired girl replied. "I'm Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings."

"And I'm Bon Bon." said the curly-haired girl on Sky's right. "Well, my real name's Sweetie Drops, but everyone just calls me Bon Bon. What's your name?"

"I'm Sky Scraper, but you can call me Sky. It's nice to meet both of you." Sky stood up and shook each girl's hand.

"Nice to meet you, too." said Lyra. "Anyway, we can't wait to show you around the school! I'm sure you'll love it!"

"Great!" said Sky. "It wouldn't take much to be better than my old school, anyway."

"What was wrong with your old school?" Bon Bon asked.

"Well, I moved here from Manebridge earlier this week, which as I'm sure you know is not exactly the nicest town."

"Yeah, I hear it can be kind of rough up there." put in Lyra.

"Exactly. The high school is full of thugs, and they're all led by this one girl named Starlight Glimmer." Sky explained. "She's the most popular girl there, and that's because everyone else is too scared to challenge her. She wants everyone to act the same way, and bullies anyone who steps out of line."

"Well, I can see why you hated Manebridge High!" Bon Bon remarked. "Starlight sounds awful!"

"She was. She never came after me personally, but I'd heard enough stories about her to know to stay well clear." Sky continued.

"Did you have any friends at your old school?" Lyra asked.

"Most of the other people at Manebridge High were pretty boring, so I only had a couple of friends, these two guys named Party Favor and Double Diamond. Those guys were my bros. They stuck by me no matter what, and didn't care what Starlight or any of her idiot friends had to say."

"Well then, I guess it couldn't have been all bad, could it?" said Lyra.

"Well, I guess not, but as you said, Manebridge is just a rough town in general, and I'm glad to be out of there." said Sky.

Both Lyra and Bon Bon nodded in agreement. As they led Sky through the corridors of Canterlot High, they showed him all of the ins and outs of their school, and told Sky some things about themselves as well.

"Anyway, I'm a huge mythology nerd." said Lyra with a grin. "I especially love unicorns, they're so pretty!"

Sky chuckled. "Yeah, unicorns are awesome. To be honest, I think we all secretly love unicorns even if some of us won't admit it."

"That is so true!" Lyra exclaimed. "We'd all love a big fluffy unicorn to cuddle with. Of course, that's what plushies are for!"

"Wait, you have a unicorn plushie?" Sky asked.

"Of course I do!" said Lyra.

"Okay, now you're starting to make me jealous!" Sky laughed. He'd have liked having a unicorn plushie to sleep with at night. It'd make him feel not so lonely.

Lyra smiled. "You're not the first person to say that." She cast a sly, mischievous grin at Bon Bon. "I fantasize about unicorns being real, Bonnie fantasizes about James Bond being real."

Bon Bon immediately blushed bright red. "What are you trying to imply, Lyra!"

"Come on, admit it." Lyra said with a smirk. "You're just about the biggest Bond fangirl on the planet, and everyone at this school knows it."

Bon Bon sighed with defeat. "Yeah. I am." She turned to Sky. "I'm a huge fan of spy movies and I absolutely love James Bond, he's just so awesome!"

"That he is!" Sky agreed. "I've seen a few Bond films, but I really should watch more sometime."

"You totally should, they're amazing!" said Bon Bon. "Speaking of which, what kind of stuff do you watch?"

"Well, I don't watch a lot of TV, but I'm a pretty big fan of Formula One racing." Sky replied.

"Oh yeah, I've heard about that." said Lyra. "Apparently the races have a lot of action, much more than that pointless stock car series where they just drive around in circles. Maybe Bonnie and I should check it out."

"You should." said Sky. "Especially because this year they're changing some of the rules - apparently it's supposed to make the cars faster."

"Cool!" said Bon Bon. The three of them were now back where they started, in the main atrium.

"Well, that's it for the tour." said Lyra. "What'd you think?"

"I think it's nice." Sky replied. "I think I'm going to like it here."

"Awesome!" said Bon Bon. "Anyway, we'd better head off. Lyra and I both work Sunday afternoons. I work at the candy shop at the Canterlot Mall."

"And I work in the music store at the mall." added Lyra. "We both work four days a week."

"You have time to do that?" Sky asked, confused. "Even with homework?"

"Teachers hardly ever give homework here, which is amazing." said Bon Bon.

"Yeah, everyone here is really chill." said Lyra. "The only way you can really fail a class is if you just never show up."

"Well then, I like this school even more now." Sky remarked. "Anyway, you two said you had to be at work soon, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!" said Lyra, and she and Bon Bon turned and headed for the door. As the two girls left, Sky spotted a broken tile in the ceiling that was leaking water into a puddle on the floor. Must be from that storm a couple of weeks ago, Sky thought to himself. Then everything happened at once.

"Watch out!" Sky shouted, but it was too late. Without looking, Lyra stepped into the puddle and her feet slid out from under her. Sky quickly ran to her and caught her before she fell.

As Sky and Lyra gazed into each other's eyes, Sky realized that he was holding Lyra in his arms, and Lyra realized that she was being held in Sky's arms. For what seemed like an eternity, they remained silent and still, their faces inches apart, and both of them couldn't help but blush.

Eventually Sky let go of Lyra, and Lyra stood up straight. "Are you okay?" Sky asked, concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks." said Lyra.

Sky smiled. "No problem."

"You all right, Lyra?" Bon Bon asked.

"Don't worry, Bonnie, I'm fine." Lyra replied. "Sky caught me before I fell." She then turned back to Sky. "It was really nice meeting you, Sky." she said. Bon Bon nodded in agreement.

"It was nice meeting you too." said Sky to both girls. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"You too!" said Lyra with a smile. "Besides, you're in tenth grade, right?"

"Yep." said Sky.

"So are we!" Lyra replied. "Maybe we'll have a few classes together!"

"I hope so!" said Sky. "That'd be great!"

Lyra, Bon Bon and Sky all headed out the doors and then went in opposite directions. Lyra and Bon Bon went one way to the mall, while Sky went the other way back to his apartment. As Sky walked home, he couldn't help but smile to himself. Lyra and Bon Bon were both really nice, and he knew he would get along well with them both. Especially Lyra. She was just so beautiful.

As he thought about Lyra, Sky sighed happily and thought to himself, Yeah... I'm definitely going to like it here.

Chapter 2: New School and New Friends

One of the nicest things about Canterlot High was that Sky got an extra hour of sleep, as the school day started at 8:30 AM as opposed to 7:30. At 8:25 on Monday morning, Sky's mom dropped him off in front of the school. Sky took his backpack and climbed out of the front passenger seat. "See you, Mom." he said as he walked toward the doors of his new school.

The student body at Canterlot High was clearly considerably larger than the one at Manebridge High, because Sky soon found himself in a gigantic crowd of boys and girls all around the same age as him. Then again, Sky had heard that Canterlot High was actually a five-year high school, so that likely explained the larger number of students.

Since he didn't want to get lost in the crowd, Sky found a bench in the main atrium and sat down until the crowd dissipated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his class schedule, which he'd received via email and printed yesterday. According to the schedule, his first class would be English in room number 112. Once most of the other students had left the main atrium, Sky got up from the bench and began walking down the nearest corridor, scanning the number on each door so he would find the right one. When he found one with the number 112 on it, he opened it and walked into the room.

Although the teacher hadn't arrived yet, many of the students already had. Sky looked around and saw that many of them were casually chatting with each other, and seemed to be pretty friendly, even if none of them really noticed the new guy. Sky felt slightly left out, but he figured that was only natural since he'd never even met any of these people before. Spotting an empty seat in the back of the room, he walked over to it and sat down.

Sky looked to his left and noticed that the student next to him was literally asleep, with their head down on their desk. Sky couldn't tell if they were a boy or a girl, because while they did look to be considerably taller than the average girl, their light green hair was very long. Sky chuckled to himself just as the door opened and a man with black hair walked into the room. He stood before the chalkboard and all of the students in the room turned their focus to him.

"Good morning, class." he said. "As most of you already know, I'm Mr. Thomas Trope, but you can call me Double-T, as most people do. I'm the main English teacher here at CHS." He wrote his name on the chalkboard. "Anyway, I'm introducing myself today because today we have a new student joining us!" He looked out across the room. "Is Sky Scraper here?"

Sky looked up and raised his hand. "Yep, that's me."

"Good to have you with us, Mr. Scraper." said Double-T. "Now then, can you please stand and introduce yourself to the class?"

Sky sighed. He didn't particularly like introducing himself to large numbers of people. He made his way to the front of the room and stood facing the rest of the class. "Hi. I'm Sky Scraper, but you can just call me Sky." he said. "There's not a whole lot to say other than that I just moved from Manebridge, so this is my first day here."

"Thank you for telling us that, Sky." Double-T said with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, and I hope you enjoy your time here at Canterlot High."

Sky and Double-T shook hands, and then Sky walked back to his seat.

"Now then," Double-T said to the class, "I didn't really have much planned for today except for you to read the first three chapters of the new book that I introduced yesterday." He walked back to Sky and placed a paperback book on his desk. "This is the new book that we're starting today." Double-T explained. "We're just reading the first three chapters, which shouldn't take you that long."

"All right." Sky said. "That sounds good." He was glad that he didn't have to do anything else.

Double-T then walked over to the student on Sky's left, who was still asleep, and tapped them on the shoulder. "You awake, Emerald?" he asked.

Emerald looked up. "Oh, sorry." he said with a yawn. "Just zoned out a little bit back there."

"That's all right. Do you have your copy of The Klugetown Files with you?"

"Oh, yeah. It's in my backpack." said Emerald. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a book identical to the one on Sky's desk.

"We're just reading the first three chapters today." Double-T explained. "And there's no homework."

"Okay, good." said Emerald. He then looked at Sky. "Who are you?" he asked.

Sky sighed. "I'm Sky Scraper. I'm the new guy. Let me guess, you slept through my introduction."

"Well... yeah." said Emerald. "I'm Emerald Leaf. Nice to meet you, Sky."

"Nice to meet you too, Emerald." Sky said as he shook Emerald's hand. "In case you were wondering, I moved here from Manebridge last week."

"Cool!" Emerald replied. "I actually moved from the Neightherlands at the start of this year. And I tell you, the first few months here were the craziest of my entire life."

"Well, I guess moving to a new country is always difficult." Sky remarked.

Emerald chuckled. "It wasn't just that. Did you hear about the Fall Formal or the Battle of the Bands?"

"Oh yeah." said Sky. "I heard they were both pretty sketchy, but I'm not sure what actually happened."

"Trust me, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"That's all right. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough."

A few hours later, Sky was making his way to the cafeteria for lunch. So far, he'd enjoyed his first day at CHS. After going through the lunch line and paying for his food, he began looking for a place to sit.

As Sky walked through the cafeteria, he noticed several people who he'd talked to earlier in the day, but all of their tables were full. He was about to just go find an empty table and sit by himself when he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey, Sky! Over here!"

Sky looked behind him to see Emerald sitting at a table with three other guys. Emerald motioned for Sky to join them and Sky did so, sitting next to Emerald and across from a boy with orange hair and a kilt.

"So, how you been, Sky?" Emerald asked. "I haven't seen you since first period."

"I've been pretty good," Sky replied, "but I gotta say this place is a lot bigger than my old school, and there are a lot more people. Everyone here has been pretty nice, though."

"Weel, that's guid." said the boy with orange hair. He spoke with a deep, smooth Scottish accent. "Name's Sherbert Music-Guard. Nice tae meet ye."

"Nice to meet you too, Sherbert." Sky replied. "My name's Sky Scraper in case you were wondering. Speaking of which, nice kilt!"

Sherbert smiled. "Thank ye, laddie! It's me family tartan. I muived here fae Scotland a couple years ago. Since muivin' here I've been a huge hit wi' the lassies - an' the laddies."

"Wait, you're bisexual?"

"Aye. This school's full o' hotties, an' I love it!"

"Yes, as you can see, Sherbert's the romantic one in our group." said one of the other guys. He had a dark brown bowl cut. He was very short and skinny, smaller than Sky, who was of fairly modest height himself. "I'm Wiz Kid." he said. "Well, that's not my real name, but I hate my real name, so everyone just calls me that."

"The name fits him perfectly." said the last remaining guy at the table. In contrast to Wiz Kid, he was very big and tall, with curly blue hair. "He's a real MVP - he's saved me from failing so many math tests. Anyway, the name's Curly Winds. I play a lot of sports, but I'm not so good at school."

Sky wasn't sure how to feel about that. Most of the jocks at Manebridge High were either bullies, delinquents, suck-ups or all three.

"Don't worry, man." Curly said with a smile. "I probably sound like, you know, that kind of guy, but trust me, I'm not."

"Yeah, Curly's a funny dude." said Wiz. "And to be honest, the vast majority of people here are pretty nice and accepting. I mean, there are a few problem people, like those three," Wiz pointed to a trio of girls seated in the opposite corner of the cafeteria, "but they won't talk to you, anyway."

Sky looked over at the three girls that Wiz had pointed to. The first had poofy orange hair, the second had straight purple hair tied into a pair of pigtails, and the third had blue hair tied into a ponytail. All three were sulking and glaring at anyone who passed by their table.

"What's up with them?" Sky asked.

"They're hot but verra nestie," said Sherbert, "an' there's one hell o' a tale aboot them. Are ye shair ye want tae hear it?"

Sky thought for a moment. "You know what, why not? Tell me the story!"

"Richt then." said Sherbert, and began telling Sky the full story of the past six months at Canterlot High. He started by explaining Sunset Shimmer's reign of terror up until her defeat at the Fall Formal at the hands of a magical girl from the same alternate dimension that she was from, and then moved on to the trio of troublemaker girls who attempted to brainwash the school with their singing. They essentially staged a Battle of the Bands, which Sherbert had competed in with his set of bagpipes, and nearly won it, but were ultimately defeated by that same magical girl and her friends, only this time with assistance from a reformed Sunset Shimmer. After that, things returned to normal in Canterlot and the Dazzlings, as the three bad girls called themselves, were left with no choice but to simply finish off high school and live the rest of their lives as social pariahs.

"An' they dinna even seem tae care about schuil." Sherbert finished. "They niver dae ony o' the wurrk, an' sometimes they leave in the middle o' the day tae dae guidness kens whit."

"Okay, two things." Sky said, having let all of what Sherbert told him sink in. "One, I see why these girls are trouble, as Wiz said. Two, HOLY SH*T!!!"

"Aye, that's hou nearly everyone reacts when they hear that story." said Sherbert.

"Yes, when I say these past few months were crazy, I'm sure you see what I mean." put in Emerald.

"Oh hell yeah." Sky agreed.

"Oan a completely unrelated note, I'm still pissed that I didna get past the first round o' the Battle o' the Bands." said Sherbert. "Whit's wrong wi' people if they dinnae appreciate traditional Scottish songs?"

Sky had always loved bagpipes and Scottish music, and he agreed that a great injustice had been done to his new friend. "I know, right!" he said. "Scottish music is amazing! What's your favorite song to play?"

"Och, there's tae many tae choose!" said Sherbert. "Flower o' Scotland, Scotland the Brave, Will Ye No Come Back Again, I love all o' them!" He sighed. "It's tae bad Principal Celestia an' Vice Principal Luna liked Lyra an' Bon Bon oan the piano ower any o' those songs. I dinna see why, though. I mean, they warna that great."

At the mention of Lyra, Sky felt his heart beat that bit faster. He felt a sudden urge to come to Lyra's defense. "Hey, I know Lyra and Bon Bon." he said. "They're both really nice, and I'm sure they can play a mean piano."

"Mebbe, but pianos are niver better than pipes, iver!" Sherbert said firmly. "Wait, ye ken Lyra an' Bon Bon?"

"Well, yeah. They gave me a tour of the school yesterday."

Sherbert smiled. "Weel then, congrats, Sky!"

Sky was confused. "What for?"

"It's yer first day an' ye ken twa lassies awready! I coudna wurrk that fast!"

Wiz rolled his eyes. "It's always about relationships with you, isn't it?"

Sherbert ignored Wiz. "Juist sae ye ken, if ye iver need romantic advice, ye can ayeweys count oan me!" He winked at Sky.

"I appreciate that, but I think it's a little too early for it." said Sky. "Besides, I just said I knew them. What makes you think I like either of them that way?" He blushed a bit. "Well, maybe one of them, but whatever."

Sherbert raised one eyebrow and smiled a bit. "Which one?"

Sky scratched the back of his head. "I'd... rather not say for now."

"That's awricht." said Sherbert with a nod. "Juist ken that whoever it is, I'll hae your back."

"All right." said Sky. He looked to his right and saw that Emerald didn't seem to be paying much attention to him or any of the other guys. In fact, he seemed to be daydreaming, staring past Wiz and Curly into the distance. Sky followed Emerald's eyes and found that the Dutch boy was focused on a group seated two tables behind them. This group, as Sky had learned that morning when he shared the same History class as two of its members, called themselves the "eco-kids". More specifically, Emerald's eyes were gazing straight at a girl with long, stringy red hair.

Sky tapped Emerald on the shoulder. "Um, Emerald?" he asked quietly. "What are you looking at?"

Emerald blushed violently and shook his head. "Nothing! NOTHING!" he quickly blurted out.

"Um... okay." said Sky.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. "Well, peace out, boys." said Curly. "I gotta go - the last time I was late to History, Miss Harshwhinny got so pissed!"

"Yeah, she's pretty strict." Sky agreed. "You should have seen her go off on Flash Sentry this morning."

"Guid!" said Sherbert. "Flash desers all the shite that comes his wey!"

"You know, I've known you for a year and a half now, and I still don't understand why you hate him so much." said Wiz.

"Acause he's a wee prick, that's why!" Sherbert replied. "He thinks he's sae cuil wi' his guitar an' his band, when he's no! He's naething but a pompous arse! No tae mention he asked Twilight tae the Fall Formal afore I coud git tae her."

"Well, I guess I can understand that." said Sky. "Wait, isn't Twilight that magical girl from another dimension?"

"Aye, an' she wis verra hot!"

"Sherbert, I think it's time to let her go." said Emerald. "You had your chance, and she's probably never coming back here anyway."

"Fine, I'll try." Sherbert replied. "I juist canna help but feel that she shoud hae been mines."

"Maybe, but not too long after that you started dating Applejack, so obviously missing your chance with Twilight didn't bother you as much as you say it did." said Wiz. "And Applejack was your fourth girlfriend in the past year and a half, so I'd say you're pretty good at moving on quickly."

"And good at getting girls to like you." added Emerald.

"Awricht, ye got me there." Sherbert conceded. "Weel, I've got tae gae tae class nou. Guid meetin' ye, Sky!"

"You too, Sherbert." Sky said as the Scottish boy headed off. Emerald and Wiz left the cafeteria as well.

Sky was heading out of the cafeteria himself when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Lyra and Bon Bon standing behind him, smiling. "Hey, Sky!" said Lyra. "What's up?"

"Yeah, we haven't seen you all day." said Bon Bon. "How's your first day been?"

Sky blushed lightly. "It's been pretty good so far." he said. "I've made a few friends and everyone I've met so far has been pretty nice."

"That's great!" said Bon Bon. "Say, what class do you have next?"

Sky pulled his schedule out of his backpack. "I have Chemistry with Dr. Hooves."

"Hey, so do we!" Lyra exclaimed. "You wanna walk there together?"

Sky smiled. "Sure! Let's go!"

And the three friends walked down the hall, enjoying each other's company.

Chapter 3: Acquainted with the Night

Following his last two classes of the day - Chemistry, which he shared with both Lyra and Bon Bon, and Algebra, which he also shared with Lyra - Sky left Canterlot High feeling great. He completed the short walk back to his apartment building and rode the elevator up to the ninth floor. He then unlocked the door to his apartment, where his mom was sitting on the couch. "Hi, Mom." he said.

"Hi, sweetie." Sky's mother, Evening Shade, replied. "How was your first day?"

"It was good." Sky said. "Better than my old school, anyway."

"Well, that's good." said Evening. "Do you have any friends yet?"

"Yeah. A group of guys as well as a couple of girls."

"Oh, nice! That's a lot for your first day."

"Yeah, I have more friends here than I did back in Manebridge already."

After setting down his backpack on a chair and washing his hands in the kitchen sink, Sky poured himself a bowl of Frosted Flakes and went into his room. He figured he'd chill out and listen to music for a while before doing the set of algebra problems he'd been assigned as homework.

An assignment that should have taken Sky only about half an hour ended up taking him almost two hours, due to him getting distracted and making lots of silly mistakes. After dinner, he decided to take one of his usual night walks through the town.

"Okay, just remember to be back by eight-thirty." said Evening.

"All right, I will." Sky replied. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was seven o'clock, which meant he'd have an hour and a half to stroll around Canterlot and come back. After grabbing his phone and putting on his coat, he left his apartment.

Sky walked to the elevator and pushed the down arrow. The doors opened and Sky got in. But just as he did so, the door to number 18, the other apartment on his floor, opened and an overweight middle-aged man began making his way over to the elevator. Sky chuckled and pushed the door close button. "Oops!" he said sarcastically to himself as the doors closed.

Sky pushed the button for the lobby and the elevator began to move. Sky had always liked being alone in the elevator. There was something so relaxing and peaceful about it. Being in tight spaces with other people made him uncomfortable.

Sky watched the numbers on the floor counter tick from nine down to one. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Sky stepped out into the very spacious and modern lobby. Like his apartment, it had tall ceilings, bright lighting, and glass windows. It was empty except for the doorman at his desk. As Sky walked through the lobby, the doorman waved to him, and he waved back. Sky then pushed open the glass doors at the front of the lobby and walked out into the night.

Sky began by taking his usual route, passing by Canterlot High on his way to the town center. Multiple people were still hanging out and having dinner at the various restaurants in the area. Sky was still feeling a bit peckish himself, and he had some money in his coat pocket, so he went into the Sweet Shoppe to buy something to eat.

As soon as Sky entered the Sweet Shoppe, he was greeted by a girl with fluffy bright pink hair. "Hi!" she said with a gigantic smile on her face. "I've never met you before! You must be new! Welcome to Canterlot!"

"Um.. yeah." Sky said, taken aback by the girl's boundless energy. "I'm Sky Scraper. I moved here last week."

"Awesome! I'm Pinkie Pie!" the girl said, rapidly shaking Sky's hand. "Welcome to the Sweet Shoppe! What can I get ya?"

"Well, let's see..." Sky looked at the display case to see what was available. He spotted a large vanilla cupcake with lots of icing and sprinkles. "I'll take that cupcake. How much is it?"

Pinkie smiled again. "As a reward for being a new friend, you can have it for free!"

Sky was surprised. "Really? I don't have to pay for it?"

"Nope!" Pinkie pulled the cupcake out from the display case and gave it to Sky. "Here you go!"

"Wow! Thanks!" Sky took the cupcake and after grabbing some napkins, sat down at a table to eat it. Pinkie sat down across from him.

"So, I guess today was your first day at CHS? Pinkie asked.

Sky nodded. "Yep."

"Cool! I guess you know Lyra and Bon Bon?"

"Well... yes, I'm friends with them. How did you know?"

Pinkie laughed. "I know everyone in this town, silly! Besides, they're on the Friendship Games team, along with me and all of my friends!"

"Oh yeah, the Friendship Games. Lyra and Bon Bon told me about them. They're at the end of next month, aren't they?"

"Yep! We're competing against Crystal Prep."

"Well then, that'll be tough. I have a cousin who goes to Crystal Prep - she says they've never lost against our school."

Pinkie sighed. "Yeah, I know. I hope that changes this year, but it probably won't."

"Hey, you never know what'll happen." Sky said encouragingly, as he finished the cupcake and wiped his hands off with a napkin. "Anyway, I gotta go now. See you around, I guess!"

"You too!" Pinkie said as Sky left the Sweet Shoppe.

After leaving the Sweet Shoppe, Sky continued on his way. He left the town center and headed into the suburban side of Canterlot. He passed a few blocks of houses and trees before spotting the entrance to the town park up ahead. He decided to do a quick loop of the park before heading home for the night. Although Sky had been through it a couple of times during the day, he'd never taken a walk through it at night.

When Sky entered the park, he was struck by just how quiet and peaceful it was. It was completely empty except for him, and many light poles lit up the paved pathways. Many people are fearful of being alone at night, but Sky had always found solace in it. A cool night breeze helped him to clear his head and collect his thoughts.

Sky remembered a poem by the poet Robert Frost, that he'd first read back in seventh grade. It went like this:

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Sky felt like this poem was one he could relate to. For most of his life, he'd been an outsider compared to his peers, as he'd never really had a whole lot in common with them and found it difficult to form lasting friendships. Coming to Canterlot had been a breath of fresh air for him, because in only his first day, he'd already found several people that he liked. He was looking forward to what the rest of tenth grade would hold.

Sky soon came to a fork in the path. The path to the left continued on the loop around the park, while the path to the right went uphill through some trees. Sky had been through this fork before, but he'd never gone up the hill. So just for a change, Sky took the path to the right.

The path led him up a steep incline through a deeply wooded area. Sky could barely see anything in front of him and was beginning to think that maybe taking this path wasn't such a good idea, when he saw an opening in the trees up ahead. He power-walked the rest of the way up the hill, and when he emerged from the woods he was greeted with one of the most beautiful vistas he'd ever seen in his life.

Sky was at the edge of a cliff, and out beyond the cliff was a breathtaking view of the entire city and more. There was a lake directly below, with the moonlight shimmering off of the water. Past that were all the lights of Canterlot, both the houses of the suburbs and the tall buildings of the city. The entire place looked absolutely incredible from above. Sky had always had an interest in architecture, especially skyscrapers. After all, they were his namesakes, and they were huge. After high school, he definitely wanted to go to college and pursue a career in architecture.

Beyond the suburbs, Sky could see all the way out to the hills that lined the edges of Canterlot, and beyond the city, he could see the ocean. He'd never had such an expansive view of a city before, and couldn't believe that he'd never been up this path until now. For several minutes, Sky stood there, gazing out into the starry night that seemed to stretch on forever in all directions. He soon began to dream of showing this view to Lyra, who was without a doubt the prettiest and sweetest girl he'd ever met. He could just imagine the look on her face when she saw it, and then her laying her head on his chest as they gazed out into the beautiful night together...

Sky awoke from his fantasy and checked the time on his phone. It was now eight-fifteen, and he'd promised his mom that he'd be back home by eight-thirty. He had fifteen minutes to go back the way he came. So he quickly turned around and began heading back down the hill, leaving the view behind. But he knew he wanted to return to it sometime, and when he did, he hoped that a certain girl would be by his side to enjoy it with him.

Chapter 4: Deep Freeze

That Friday, the weather in Canterlot took a turn for the worse. It didn't rain or snow, but it became very cold and windy, with temperatures in the single digits and the ground hard with frost. Sky felt miserable as he came into school that morning. He had his winter coat on and the hood pulled over his head. As he walked toward the front doors of Canterlot High, the wind blew hard and stung his face.

"Well, I definitely won't be taking a walk tonight." he said to himself. He was relieved when he entered the school.

As Sky came in, he spotted Lyra and Bon Bon sitting on a bench. In addition to thick winter coats and leggings, Lyra was also wearing an orange beanie and scarf, while Bon Bon had a pink scarf and a light blue beret. Since there was still a minute or so before the start of first period, Sky went over and sat down next to Lyra. "Hey, girls!" he said. "What's up?"

"Hi, Sky!" said Bon Bon. "Boy, I wish it could have snowed so that we wouldn't have school today."

"Yeah, tell me about it!" Lyra agreed. "I wish I was still in bed with my unicorn plushie!"

Sky chuckled. "I think we'd all be wrapped up in a blanket right now if we had the choice." He looked at Bon Bon's hat. "Speaking of which, why are you wearing a beret when it's this cold outside?"

Bon Bon gave a smug smile. "Because berets are awesome."

"Can't argue with that." said Sky.

By now, most of the other students had already gone to class. "Oh boy, I'd better go to class now." Lyra remarked. "Miss Harshwhinny doesn't like it when people are late."

"Yeah, neither does Mr. Cranky." said Bon Bon. "See you this afternoon, Sky." She and Lyra got up and headed to their respective classes, and then Sky headed to his.

Sky and the rest of Double-T's first period class were in the middle of a book discussion when the door suddenly opened and Emerald Leaf came in holding a late pass. "Sorry I'm late." he said.

"That's all right." said Double-T. "We're in the middle of a discussion about The Klugetown Files, so just take a seat."

Emerald walked to the back of the room and took his usual seat next to Sky. "What kept you?" Sky asked.

Emerald laughed. "First of all, I slept through my alarm three times. Then my mom's car wouldn't start because it was so cold outside. It took about twenty minutes for us to actually get out of the driveway and onto the road. I tell you, winters here are way colder than they ever were back in the Netherlands."

"Yeah, I heard the Netherlands has a fairly moderate climate." said Sky. "What were the winters like there?"

"Well, winters in the Netherlands are usually pretty boring - cloudy and rainy, with temperatures around freezing. We usually get 2 weeks of snow but in the last year before I moved here, we only got one week."

"Yep, that's pretty mild compared to our usual winters. As I'm sure you already know, winters in New England usually come with a lot of snow, but this past winter was a pretty mild one. I mean, this February was really warm."

"Yeah, it was. We had a couple of snow days in January, though. On both of those days, I was in bed all morning until my parents made me help them shovel."

Sky chuckled. "That's pretty much the way snow days usually go for me. I really wish it could have snowed today."

"Definitely. I honestly don't see the point of it being this miserably cold outside if it's not going to snow. At least if it was a snow day, I could have slept in and stayed warm for a few more hours." Emerald sighed. "I'm so tired..." He laid his head down on his desk and within a few minutes, he was fast asleep. Sky rolled his eyes.

For Sky, English was followed by Art, History and Gym. As he made his way to the cafeteria for lunch, Sky was in a bad mood because of the behavior of one of the guys in his gym class. When he sat down at his usual table, his friends could see that he was not happy.

"Ye look doun, Sky." remarked Sherbert. "Whit's batherin' ye?"

Sky sighed. "It's this one guy in my gym class. He's so annoying."

"Who?" Wiz asked. "What's his name?"

"His name's Noteworthy." Sky replied. "Pretty average looking guy, with dark blue hair. Do you know him?"

"Unfortunately, yes." said Wiz. "He should win an award for the most arrogant prick on the planet."

"Definitely." agreed Curly. "He's such a try-hard. He thinks he's so much stronger and more athletic than he really is."

"Exactly." said Sky. "Today he was doing nothing but running around the gym with a lacrosse stick, as if he needed to shove into everyone's face just how great at lacrosse he was. And the thing is, he sucks at it! He's terrible! I mean, I'm not exactly good either, but at least I can catch the ball and not just randomly swing the stick around. Not only is Noteworthy completely incapable of catching the ball, he's always accusing people of cheating when he doesn't. Hell, all I did was bump into him by accident, and he threw himself on the floor and accused me of a personal foul!"

"Hah, he should play European soccer!" Emerald laughed. "He'd fit right in!"

"He sure would." said Wiz. "That's Noteworthy for you - always prancing around the school like he owns the place, and always making lousy excuses when it turns out he's not as great as he thinks."

"Yeah, last month he challenged me to a lift-off." said Curly. "So we go to the weight room and I beat him easily, but then he accuses me of cheating because according to him, no one ever beats him at anything."

"Aye, we aw ken that's a laid." said Sherbert. "Juist a few weeks ago, he accuised me o' cheatin' oan a test acause I got a better grade than him. Honestly, I hate him awmaist as much as I hate Flash."

Wiz rolled his eyes. "Again with you and your irrational Flash hate. Can't you see Noteworthy is way worse? Besides, didn't he steal Rarity from you last year?"

"Och, ye're richt!" Sherbert exclaimed. "He did, that bastard wee prick! I ocht tae teach him a bluidy guid lesson or twa!" Sherbert angrily slammed his fist into his palm.

"Wait, when did this happen?" Sky asked. "How many relationships have you been in, dude?"

"Weel, since muivin' here, I've had fower girlfreends an' ane boyfreend. Last year, I dated Rarity, Soarin, Rainbow Dash an' Autumn Blaze."

Sky had heard of each of the first three, but not the last name that Sherbert mentioned. "Autumn Blaze? Who's that?"

"She wis an exchange student who wis here last year. She was verra hot an' verra funny! Och, I wish I coud hae steyed in titch wi' her."

"Yeah, I liked her too." said Curly. "You and her looked good together."

"Aye. Onywey, fae October tae January this year, I wis wi' Applejack, an' she didna mynd that I'd awready dated twa o' her freends. She wis verra strong an' nice, an' she wis a guid kisser. We had some amazin' mak-oot sessions!" Sherbert sighed. "I'm still sad that she broke up wi' me. At least she did it in person, an' no ower the phone."

"Aw, that's tough." Sky sympathized. "I've never even had a girlfriend. But hey, you've had lots of success before, so I'm sure the right person will come around soon enough."

Sherbert nodded. "I howp sae."

Sky noticed that Emerald seemed to be daydreaming again. He followed Emerald's eyes and found that for the fourth time in five days, the Dutch boy was gazing at the red-haired girl from the eco-kid group. Sky sighed and tapped Emerald on the shoulder. "You've got your eye on a girl, haven't you?" he asked quietly.

Emerald blushed violently. He glanced nervously from side to side as he tried to figure out what to say to Sky. "Well...I...um..." He sighed. "Yes."

"Is it the red-haired girl?" Sky asked.

"Yep." Emerald replied. "I've had a crush on her pretty much ever since I moved here. Her name's Tree Hugger." He blushed again. "She's so hot! I just wish I was brave enough to talk to her."

"Hey, no shame in that." said Sky. "You make your move when you're ready. Speaking of which, how familiar are you with her friend group?"

"The eco-kids? Well, as you know, I really like plants, so I've hung out with them from time to time. I'm pretty good friends with Sweet Leaf and Roseluck - they're two of the girls in the group, and they're friends with Tree Hugger."

"That's cool. Wait, what?! You've hung out with her group several times, and you have two mutual friends, and still nothing?!"

Emerald shook his head. "Sadly, no. I've tried talking to her a few times, but every time I just get so nervous and chicken out."

Sky gave Emerald a pat on the back. "Come on, man. You just have to stand tall and be confident. Besides, you already know her friends. I'm sure she wouldn't mind getting to know you."

"You're probably right." said Emerald. "I'm more worried about Sandalwood, though."

"Who's Sandalwood?"

"He's another eco-kid, and he and Tree Hugger are really good friends. I don't want to have to compete with him."

"Well, they're just friends, right? Nothing more."

Emerald thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Then you won't be competing with him. Just keep it cool and you'll do fine."

Emerald smiled. "Thanks, bro. I didn't realize how much I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome. Glad I could help." said Sky. "Speaking of which, I'll let you in on a little secret, one that I haven't told anyone yet."

Emerald leaned in. "Ooh, what is it?"

Sky whispered in Emerald's ear. "For the past week since I moved here, I've had a pretty big crush on Lyra Heartstrings."

"The girl with the minty green hair?" Emerald asked.

Sky nodded.

"Well, I can understand that, she is pretty. But aren't you already friends with her and Bon Bon?"

"Yes. They were the ones who gave me a tour of the school on Sunday."

Emerald chuckled. "Lucky you! You got to know her right away."

"Yeah, I guess I did." said Sky. "And I actually got a chance to hold her."

"Whoa, really? When?"

Sky told Emerald about how he had saved Lyra from slipping on a puddle that past Sunday, and how when he caught her, their faces had been just inches apart. "She's even more beautiful close up!" Sky finished.

Emerald playfully punched Sky in the arm. "You lucky bastard! You just went straight for the good stuff, didn't you?"

"I suppose you could say that." Sky laughed. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it!"

"Good luck with her." said Emerald. "You've got this, I'm sure of it."

The lunch bell rang and everyone began to get up to go to their next class. At the other end of the cafeteria, Sky spotted Lyra talking and laughing with Bon Bon and another girl. He felt his face get warm just from seeing her, and he smiled to himself.

That afternoon, Sky was sitting next to Lyra during Algebra, their last class of the day. As Bon Bon had also found out that morning, Mr. Cranky was out sick, and so in his place, there was a substitute teacher who had about as much enthusiasm as a wet carrot.

"Mr. Cranky left an assignment for you to do today." the substitute said in a dull, monotone voice. He held up a sheet of paper. "You are to complete it and hand it in at the end of class today. You are permitted to skip number nineteen, as you have not yet learned how to do that kind of problem." He began walking around the room and handing a copy of the paper to each student.

"Looks like I'll just be on my phone until the bell rings." Lyra whispered to Sky.

"But isn't Mr. Cranky going to check this?" Sky asked, confused.

"Nah. Mr. Cranky's had subs before, and he never checks any of the work that they assign, which is good because no one ever actually does it."

Sky chuckled. "That's nice. In any event, it's good that this guy isn't actually trying to teach. If I had to listen to him any longer, I'd probably fall asleep."

Lyra smiled and nodded in agreement.

About halfway through class, Sky looked around and saw that several students had fallen asleep on their desks. Sky chuckled to himself and went back to reading news on his phone. But no sooner had he done that than the fire alarm began going off loudly and rapidly. Red lights on the walls began to flash on and off. Principal Celestia's voice could soon be heard over the intercom. "Attention please. There has been a fire alarm reported in the building. All staff and students please make your way to the nearest exit."

The students who had been sleeping got a very abrupt wake-up call. They bolted up from their seats and began heading for the door, as did Sky, Lyra and the others. The substitute teacher followed out behind him.

Sky hoped that it would be warmer outside than it was that morning. But it wasn't, and as soon as he stepped out the door, he began shivering, as he hadn't brought his coat with him. Lyra was lucky in that she was still wearing her coat, and she pulled her hat and scarf out of her pockets and put them on as she exited the school. As they stood outside and waited for the fire department to arrive and put out whatever fire had occurred in the building, it became clear that while half of the people in Sky's class had their coats and were doing just fine, the other half didn't and were miserable in the cold.

Sky began massaging his ears to try and keep them warm. "I really hope we get to go back inside soon." he muttered.

"Yeah, me too." said Lyra. "Say, do you want to borrow my hat and scarf? I'll probably be warm enough without them."

"Um.. if you're sure you don't need them, then yeah." said Sky. "I need all the warmth I can get right now."

"Okay, here you go." Lyra smiled as she took off her hat and scarf and handed them to Sky.

"Thanks!" Sky pulled the warm orange beanie over his nearly-frozen ears and wrapped the fuzzy orange scarf around his neck. Immediately he felt much warmer and happier. Wearing Lyra's hat and scarf felt amazing.

"What I'd like to know is how on earth does a fire start in such miserably cold weather as this?!" exclaimed Rarity, a girl with curled purple hair.

"Ah think we all would." agreed Applejack, a girl with blonde hair and a Stetson hat. "Ah'm bettin' it was some jerk who thought it'd be real funny to pull the fire alarm on a day like today."

"In any case, we'd best huddle together for warmth." said Octavia, a girl with long dark gray hair. And several of the girls did so, including Lyra, who also invited Sky to join their little circle. Sky enjoyed ten minutes of heaven, huddled together with Lyra and five other pretty girls.

Eventually it was confirmed that it had been a false alarm, and that no fire had actually occurred in the building. "Ah knew it!" Applejack muttered as she and the rest of the school began filing back indoors.

By that time, the school day had already ended, so everyone just got their stuff from their classrooms and left. As Sky headed out of Mr. Cranky's room, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Lyra smiling nervously and blushing a bit. "Hey, um... would you like my number?" she asked.

Sky blushed too. "Yeah, that'd be great." he said. The two of them gave each other their phones and exchanged numbers. "Oh, and here's your hat and scarf. Again, thanks for letting me borrow them." Sky took them off and gave them back to Lyra.

"No problem." said Lyra as she put them back on. "See you later!" She gave Sky one last smile before heading off. Sky followed, checking his phone as he walked. He scrolled through his contacts list and when he saw "Lyra Heartstrings" listed in it, he felt like he was walking on air.

That night after dinner, Sky was looking at Formula One news on his phone when his phone buzzed, as it had received a new text message. He looked through his messages and found that it had come from his group chat with his friends. It was from Curly and it read: Look what Trixie just posted on SnapGab! A link to a SnapGab post followed.

Sky had created a SnapGab account about a year ago, but he never used it. He followed the link to the post, which was a picture of a very annoyed Trixie. The caption was as follows:

Today was not a good day for the Great and Powerful Trixie. Snips and Snails, my two idiotic assistants, were helping me carry my magic equipment when Snips tripped and hit the fire alarm! Trixie nearly froze to death in the cold and it's all Snips' fault! 😠😠😠😠😠

After reading the caption, Sky burst out with laughter at the fact that that was what caused today's fire alarm. In all seriousness, it made him laugh much more than it should have.

He texted back to Curly: Oh god, that's so f***ing funny!!! Then he suddenly thought of something. He reopened the SnapGab post, clicked on the search bar, and typed in "lyra heartstrings". Sure enough, Lyra's account was the first result. Sky clicked on it and began scrolling through the pictures.

Lyra's SnapGab gallery was absolutely amazing. It was full of beautiful pictures of her, some of her alone and some with Bon Bon. Sky was mesmerized as he scrolled through it. He discovered a picture of Lyra in her dress from the Fall Formal in October, a picture of Lyra in her swimsuit at the beach from the previous summer, a picture of Lyra sitting at the waterfront in Canterlot's seaport district, and many more. Although part of him felt guilty about essentially stalking her online, it was as if he couldn't help it. He just wanted to see more of Lyra.

Eventually he put his phone down and took a shower, as it was getting quite late. Afterwards, when he returned to his room, he saw that he'd gotten another new text message. And to his very pleasant surprise, it was from Lyra. The message was simple but sweet: G'night Sky! 😉

Even though it was only an emoji, Sky couldn't help but blush a bit when he saw the wink. He texted back: Night Lyra 😊

That night, Sky certainly went to bed with a smile on his face.

Chapter 5: Rivals and Revelations

Exactly two weeks had passed since Sky's first day at Canterlot High, and it had been just over one week since that freezing cold Friday when he got Lyra's number. It was now Monday again and Sky's gym class had just begun.

A loud whistle sounded out as about twenty students sped around the indoor track in the gymnasium. "Come on, only two more laps to go!" Coach Spitfire shouted.

Every day at the beginning of class, Spitfire made her class run eight laps of the track, or one mile, to warm up. Since Sky had run cross-country and track at Manebridge High for a couple of years, he never had a problem with it, and so he was always at the front of the pack during the warm-up. The same, however, could not be said for most of the other students in the class. A couple of guys who were a long way behind Sky looked like they were about to have heart attacks. In the middle of the pack, Noteworthy was trying way too hard as usual and looked absolutely miserable. Just behind Sky, the twin sisters Cloudchaser and Flitter were neck-and-neck with each other and were holding up just fine.

Eventually Sky slowed down a bit and the twins caught up to him. Sky chuckled to himself as he sped up again. "Oh, you want to race, do you?" Cloudchaser laughed. She and Flitter picked up speed and soon caught up to Sky. All three sprinted the last lap and crossed the finish line in unison, well ahead of any of their classmates. They slowed to a stop further down the track and took a moment to catch their breath.

"Good race." said Sky.

"Yeah." said Cloudchaser, brushing her spiky silver hair off of her forehead. "Who won?"

"I think it was a tie between all three of us!" Flitter laughed as she pushed her long green hair to one side.

"Yes, it was." Spitfire said with a smile. "Very well done, all three of you."

Sky liked the twins. They were both really cool and funny, and they too ran cross-country and track.

The rest of the class began crossing the finish line, and many looked to be in considerably worse shape than Sky and the twins. Once everyone was finished, Spitfire gathered the entire class together.

"Okay, class." she said. "Now that the warmup is done, we'll be playing badminton singles today."

Sky looked at Flitter. "Oh, crap." he sighed. "I'm dead." Flitter simply nodded in response.

The previous week, they had played badminton doubles. Despite being pretty bad at any sort of racket sport, Sky had managed to be on the winning team in most of the games he played last week, simply because Flitter was his doubles partner, and both she and Cloudchaser were far better at badminton than he was. But now Sky would have to play on his own, and he was fairly certain that he was going to lose badly to whoever he played against.

Noteworthy was still being his usual arrogant self. "We all know I'm the best one here." he said with a smirk. "I don't need a partner to win."

"Oh, shut your big mouth!" Flitter muttered.

What Noteworthy said wasn't necessarily untrue, though. Despite being bad at most other sports, he was actually quite good at badminton, which annoyed Sky and pretty much everyone else in the class to no end.

"I'll just be pairing you up randomly today." said Spitfire. "The first player to reach 10 points wins. First up, Amethyst Star and Violet Blurr!"

A girl with bright purple hair picked up a racket and walked to one side of the court, and a girl with long pink hair and a spiked headband picked up another racket and went to the other side.

"Ready...begin!" Spitfire shouted, tossing the badminton shuttlecock to the purple-haired girl. Amethyst picked it up and served it to Violet, who immediately hit it back. Amethyst dove for it and missed. "0-1, Violet!" said Spitfire.

That was how the rest of class went, with multiple one-on-one games between random students. Eventually there were only two students left who had not played yet, and Spitfire announced the final matchup of the day. "Next up, Sky Scraper and Noteworthy!"

Sky sighed heavily. He couldn't believe that he was going to have to play Noteworthy of all people. Noteworthy smirked as he took up his position opposite Sky.

Spitfire gave the command to begin, and tossed the shuttlecock to Noteworthy. Noteworthy served it to Sky, who ran to hit it but didn't get the chance to swing his racket before the shuttlecock flew past him. Ah, crap. Sky thought to himself. That's a point to Noteworthy already.

But it wasn't. "0-1, Sky!" said Spitfire.

"Wait, what?!" Sky exclaimed.

"It went out of bounds, and you didn't actually swing at it, so that's a point to you, Sky." Spitfire explained. She picked up the shuttlecock from where it had landed and gave it back to Sky. "It's your turn to serve now, you got this!"

Sky nodded, threw the shuttlecock up in the air and served it back toward Noteworthy. It was a high, fast serve, and as Noteworthy jumped up to try to hit it, he tripped and fell. The shuttlecock landed on the line at the back of the court, meaning that it was still in. "2-0, Sky!" said Spitfire. "You all right, Noteworthy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Noteworthy grunted as he got back up. But Sky could see that he was already getting angry about how the game had gone so far. He chucked the shuttlecock back to Sky, and Sky served it again. This time, Noteworthy successfully sent it back to Sky, who then hit it back to Noteworthy. It was another very high hit, and Noteworthy missed it by a mile. Spitfire announced the score again. "3-0, Sky!"

Then came Noteworthy's first bogus excuse of the day. "Coach, Sky's cheating!" he complained. "He's hitting the shuttlecock way too high!"

Sky rolled his eyes. "Here we go again." he muttered to himself.

"He can hit it as high as he wants, as long as it doesn't go out of bounds." Spitfire replied. She turned to Sky. "You're doing great, Sky! You've got a really strong arm!"

Sky smiled. When he thought about it, the only reason he seemed to be bad at racket sports was because of his tendency to miss the ball or shuttlecock. When he hit it, he could hit pretty far. He got the shuttlecock back and served it again. Once again, Noteworthy swung at it madly and missed it. "Oh, god damn it!" he growled.

"4-0, Sky!" Spitfire announced. She went over to Noteworthy. "Remember, Noteworthy, you have to watch where the shuttlecock is going, you can't just swing at it. I saw you last week, you were really good. Just calm down."

An extremely frustrated Noteworthy nodded. He tossed the shuttlecock back to Sky, who served it once more.

As the game went on, Noteworthy just became angrier and angrier as he kept on either missing Sky's shots or hitting the shuttlecock out of bounds. Soon the score was 9-0 in Sky's favor. Sky needed just one more point to complete a total victory over Noteworthy. He served it with his usual high shot, and it cleared the net easily. Noteworthy watched it with furrowed brows and was about to jump up to hit it when he suddenly threw down his racket. "That's it!" he shouted. "Screw this, I'm done!" The shuttlecock landed at his feet.

"10-0, Sky wins!" Spitfire announced. "Great job, Sky! Total victory!" By now she'd gotten used to Noteworthy's angry outbursts and didn't bother trying to console him.

"Yes!" Sky shouted. It felt really good to beat an arrogant jerk like Noteworthy.

The twins ran down from the bleachers to congratulate Sky. "Way to go, Sky! That was amazing!" Flitter said as she pulled Sky into a brief hug.

Cloudchaser nodded and gave Sky a pat on the back. "Not gonna lie, it feels really good to see Noteworthy get his ass kicked, especially by you."

"Okay, that's it for today's class." Spitfire announced to the class. "All of you have a fantastic day!"

Everyone began getting down from the bleachers to leave the gym. As Noteworthy left, many students were laughing at him.

"So much for being the best!" laughed one of the guys.

"And so much for not needing a partner to win!" added one of the girls.

Sky and the twins laughed too. No on else in the class was very fond of Noteworthy either. Noteworthy walked out of the gym with clenched fists and an angry expression on his face. As he went out the door, he glared and pointed at Sky. Then he turned around and left.

Sky shrugged it off, and as Cloudchaser and Flitter headed to their next class, he headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

When Sky arrived at his usual lunch table, only Sherbert, Wiz and Curly were there. "Where's Emerald?" Sky asked.

"He's ower there wi' a couple o' lassies." Sherbert replied, pointing. Sky looked in that direction and saw Emerald talking to Tree Hugger and another girl. Tree Hugger winked at Emerald as she and the other girl headed back to the eco-kids table. Emerald returned to his own table and sat down next to Sky. He had a big smile on his face.

"You sure look cheerful today." Sky remarked, even though it wasn't hard for him to guess the reason why.

"You bet I am!" said Emerald. "After I finally managed to talk to Tree Hugger last week, I feel like we're starting to become friends!"

"Och, that's great, laddie!" Sherbert exclaimed. "Congratulations!"

"Yeah, we already sort of figured you had a thing for her, even before you told us." said Curly. "But still, good for you, man!"

"Thanks." said Emerald. "I just hope it'll all work out for the foreseeable future."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you've got this." said Sky. "Speaking of which, I just destroyed Noteworthy at badminton!"

"Good." said Wiz. "That guy is insufferable."

"Exactly." said Sky. He then told the story of what had happened in gym class, from Noteworthy's claim that he was the best in the class, to him getting completely wiped by Sky when they went up against each other.

"Well done, bro!" said Curly when Sky finished. "Very well done!"

"But you were really bad last week, weren't you?" Wiz asked. "I mean, you said Flitter was basically carrying you. How'd you get so good all of a sudden?"

Sky shrugged. "I guess I just really wanted to beat Noteworthy. And I did!"

"Canna blame ye for that." said Sherbert. "That lad's a dirty bastard!"

"That he is." Sky agreed. "And of course, today he was worse than ever with his excuses!"

"Not that much worse." Wiz remarked. "Sounds like regular old Noteworthy to me. He just can't handle the fact that you're better than him!"

"That is so true!" Sky laughed.

The next day, as Sky left his Art class and headed to History, he ran into Sherbert and Curly at the stairs. "Hey, guys!" he said. "What's up?"

"Well, I found out this morning that I completely bombed my last chemistry test." Curly replied as the three boys walked down the stairs. "I got a 30%!"

"Aw, man, that's rough!" Sky sympathized. "Is your teacher letting you retake it?"

"Yeah, after school on Thursday. I really hope I'll do better, I'm already failing Chemistry as it is."

"Well, is that the only class you're failing?" Sky asked.

"It is, but I still don't have any grades better than a C plus. As you know, I'm no good at math or writing or anything like that!"

"Ah well. You're still one of the top athletes in the whole school." said Sky. "You're way better at most sports than I could ever hope to be!"

Curly smiled. "Hey, at least I'm still good at that!"

"That you are! Besides, I could help you study for Chemistry if you wanted."

"Thanks! I'd really appreciate that! Wiz is already going to be helping me after school tonight, so maybe you could come too."

"Sure! Sounds great!"

At that moment, Sherbert entered the conversation, his set of bagpipes in hand. "Muisic cless wis awesome today. Rainbow's been teachin me some o' the Rainbooms' songs, an' I'm learnin hou tae play 'em on the pipes!"

"That's really cool!" said Sky. "The Rainbooms are a pretty kick-ass band from what I've heard. And I take it you're still on good terms with Rainbow Dash even after you two broke up last year?"

"Aye, we still hang oot fae time tae time, an' all o' her freends are still cuil wi' me."

"Well, that's good." said Sky. They were now on the first floor of the school and near Sky's locker. "Hold on, I just remembered, I need my textbook for History today." He went over to his locker, opened it, and grabbed his history textbook. But as he did so, he accidentally knocked a sheet of paper off the side of the locker. When Sky realized what he had done, he facepalmed. "Oh, sh*t."

The piece of paper that Sky had knocked down was a printed photo of Lyra that he'd gotten from her SnapGab profile. On Tuesday last week, Sky had printed it out, drawn multiple hearts on it, and hung it in his locker because he liked to always have a picture of Lyra to look at, even when he didn't see her all morning. For the past week he'd kept it well-concealed from anyone, but now the picture was in full view of Sherbert and Curly. They knew his secret.

There was a long, awkward silence before Curly spoke. "So... I'm guessing you like Lyra?" he asked.

Sky sighed. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Hey, it's naething tae be embarrassed aboot, laddie." said Sherbert, putting a hand on Sky's shoulder. "I dinna blame ye for likin her, she is verra cute an' nice."

Sky sighed. "That she is. But just be sure not to tell anyone else how I feel about her, okay?"

Sherbert nodded. "Dinna fash yersel, we winna. Besides, ye're awready freends wi' her, sae I'd say ye've got a guid chance!"

"Thanks." Sky grabbed his photo of Lyra and stuffed it into the back of his backpack. "I'll probably throw this out when I have the chance, I don't want anyone else finding out. Anyway, I'd better leave before I'm late to class. See you at lunch."

"Okay, see you!" Curly replied. He and Sherbert headed off to their respective classes as well.

As Sky made his way to Miss Harshwhinny's classroom, he didn't notice Noteworthy going in the opposite direction. Noteworthy had been there the whole time and had overheard Sky's entire conversation with Sherbert and Curly.

Noteworthy smiled. "Very interesting." he snickered to himself. "Well then, we'll see who's more embarrassed tomorrow..."

Chapter 6: The Fight

Just as they had been at Manebridge High, Wednesdays at Canterlot High were an hour shorter than any other day of the week. This also shortened each class period by ten minutes each. Today, as Sky and the twins walked out of their History class and headed toward the gym, they were laughing over something that had happened to one of their classmates.

"So, I heard Captain Planet got suspended again yesterday." Sky remarked.

"Yeah, for smoking weed in the bathroom!" Cloudchaser giggled. "That's the third time this year!"

"He got suspended twice last year too." added Flitter. "I swear, one of these days he's going to get expelled!"

"He probably will!" said Cloudchaser. "Plus, he seriously needs to shave off that mustache!"

Sky chuckled. "That too!"

The three friends passed through the atrium and began heading along the corridor to the gym. Suddenly, Sky heard a familiar voice coming from around the corner and stopped. He peered around the corner and saw Noteworthy repeatedly trying to initiate conversation with Lyra, while Lyra kept moving away and trying to ignore him.

Sky felt anger boiling up within him. Flitter noticed this and asked Sky what was the matter. Sky pointed to Noteworthy. "Just look over there."

Noteworthy saw Sky and smirked at him. Upon seeing this, Lyra glared at Noteworthy, flipped him the middle finger and walked away. Sky watched her turn the corner at the other end of the corridor and disappear.

"That's it!" said Sky to the twins. "I'm getting to the bottom of this." He stormed over to Noteworthy. "What the hell was that all about?!" he demanded.

Noteworthy, still looking as smug as ever, shrugged. "What? I was just talking to my friend Lyra."

"She's not your friend!" Sky snapped. "She clearly didn't want to talk to you, so why were you trying to talk to her?"

Noteworthy smiled knowingly. "Why do you think? I know all about your feelings for her. I saw that picture of yours, and I heard everything you said to Sherbert and Curly."

"Oh my gosh, Sky likes Lyra!" Flitter whispered to Cloudchaser.

Cloudchaser rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I already sort of knew that. He's really bad at hiding it."

Sky was at a loss for words. He struggled to think of something to say. Finally he sighed, and muttered, "Fine. You got me on that." Then he suddenly realized something. "Wait a minute! You're still mad about gym class on Monday!"

"Yeah, no sh*t, Sherlock!" Noteworthy retorted. "I've never been more humiliated in all my life! And it's all your fault, because you cheated and made me lose!"

"I did not cheat!" Sky shot back. "You know full well that I beat you fair and square! It's not my fault that you totally sucked out there, and came up with about a million bullsh*t excuses. Newsflash - no one believes you anymore, and everyone, including me, is tired of you. No offence, but you're an asshole."

Noteworthy couldn't think of anything to say in response, and seethed in silence. Sky smiled. "Silence, eh? Smart move."

That was all it took to push Noteworthy over the edge. "F*ck you!" he shouted, and pulled his arm back to punch Sky.

Cloudchaser and Flitter had watched the entire ordeal unfold, and as soon as Noteworthy threw the first punch, they rushed in, ready to defend their friend. But there was no need for that. Sky blocked the punch and busted Noteworthy square in the nose. Noteworthy fell to the ground and covered his bloody nose with his hand.

At that moment, Vice Principal Luna rushed to the scene, having seen the whole incident. "Sky Scraper! Noteworthy! Both of you come to my office now!" she yelled.

Sky sighed heavily and followed Luna. Noteworthy got to his feet and followed Sky. As the two boys walked behind Luna, Noteworthy shot Sky a deadly glare. Sky ignored it and looked down at the knuckles on his right hand. There was some blood on them from punching Noteworthy so hard.

Once Noteworthy had gone to Nurse Redheart's office and had his nose bandaged, both he and Sky sat before both Luna and Principal Celestia. After hearing both Sky's and Noteworthy's sides of the story, Celestia spoke to the boys.

"As I'm sure you already knew, Canterlot High has strict rules concerning violence. There is to be zero fighting within this building. In light of what just happened between you two, and in accordance with our non-violence policy, I'm afraid I must take action and suspend you both from school for three days. That means that neither of you is permitted to come to school tomorrow, Friday or Monday. Now then, I will call both of your parents and tell them what happened." She picked up her phone, and Sky watched as his mother's number was dialed.

After their respective parents were called and they were both sent home, Sky and Noteworthy left Celestia's office and went their separate ways. Before parting, Noteworthy pointed at Sky and said, "I'm not done with you. I'm going to get my revenge, and you're not going to like it." He turned and walked out the door to the parking lot.

Sky headed back to the atrium and went out the main door of the school. He found his mother's car waiting right outside. Sky put his backpack in the back seat, then sat down in the front passenger seat next to his mom. To his surprise, Evening Shade did not look upset at all. "Hi, Mom." Sky said quietly. "You're not upset?"

"Not at all." Evening replied. "I'm just glad to see that you're okay. That other boy threw the first punch, so you had every right to hit him back. I'm proud of you for defending yourself."

"Thanks." said Sky. "Dad won't be upset either?"

"Nope. I've already called him, and he agrees that you had every right to do what you did in that situation. Even if you're suspended from school, you're not in trouble with either of us." She started the car and drove her son home.

Sky looked around the ice cream shop, an ice cream cone in his hand. It was around seven-thirty, and he felt like he needed some ice cream to cool off after what had happened today. He wasn't expecting to see any of his friends here. After all, this place was nestled deep in the city, and located much closer to Crystal Prep than to Canterlot High. But as Sky scanned the shop for an empty table, he spotted Sherbert and Emerald sitting at a table near the window. He immediately went to join them. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Sky!" Sherbert exclaimed. "Sae guid tae see ye!"

"I see you finally found this place." said Emerald. "I don't know too many other people who come here." He took a bite out of his ice cream cone. "Best ice cream on the planet!"

"Well, I've been here a few times before." said Sky. "I guess we've just never been in here at the same time."

"Guess not." said Emerald. "Speaking of which, where were you this afternoon? I didn't see you at lunch."

Sky's response was short and blunt. "I got suspended."

Sherbert nearly did a spit-take. "Whit!?!" he exclaimed. "Why?"

"Yeah, what did you do?" Emerald asked. "What happened?"

Sky took a deep breath and explained the entire incident with Noteworthy.

Sherbert gave Sky a hardy pat on the back. "Guid on ye! That prat gat whit he desert!"

Emerald nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you did nothing wrong. If a guy takes a swing at you, you have every right to return the favor. That's how it works."

"Aye." said Sherbert. "But seriously, ye've got tae mak a muive oan Lyra suin. I mean, I ken Noteworthy anely did this acause he's pissed at ye for whit happent oan Monanday, but the langer ye wait, the bigger the risk ye run of her bein stolen fae ye. I leart that lesson masel back at the Fall Formal."

"I know, but I don't want to ruin my friendship with her if it turns out she doesn't feel the same way about me." Sky replied. "By the same token, I REALLY don't want to get stuck in the friend zone with her."

"I unnerstaund." said Sherbert. "I'm guessin she disna ken aboot yer feelins?"

"Not as far as I know." Sky replied.

"Then ye've gat tae gie her some hints!"

"Why should I try to tell her my feelings now? Like I said, I don't want to freak her out if she doesn't like me back. And when you say "hints", what do you mean?"

"I wis thinkin that ye coud tell her she's cute if ye get the chance. Dinna juist say it oot o' the blue, mak it suttle. Like if ye're talkin tae her ane day an' ye think she leuks espeicially beautiful, lat her ken!"

Sky pondered for a moment. "Hmm... I guess that could work. Maybe I could try."

Sherbert nodded. "Ye shoud!" He turned to Emerald. "D'ye hae any ither advice for him?"

Emerald shook his head. "Nope. Your advice sounded pretty good. Besides, you've got way more experience with relationships than I do." He pat Sky on the back. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine. After all, you're way less shy than me."

Sky nodded. He had now eaten his entire ice cream cone, and looked up at the clock on the wall. It was now eight o'clock sharp. "Well, I've got to be going, I'm afraid." he said to his friends. "It was nice to see you after the incredibly crappy day that I had. Thanks for the advice, Sherbert!"

"Nae problem!" Sherbert replied. "As I said, whan ye need romantic advice, ye can ayeweys coont oan me!"

Sky waved goodbye to his friends, then exited the shop and headed home. As he walked in the evening glow, he pondered what Sherbert had said to him. He definitely needed to give Lyra some inkling of how he felt, so as not to catch her off guard. However, that would require two things. One, he needed to be subtle and not make it completely obvious. Two, he actually had to build up the courage necessary to compliment her in that way. Sky wasn't sure which of those would be harder.

The next day, Sky got to sleep in because he didn't have to get up early for school, but he still had to keep up with the assignments from his teachers during his suspension. He had to go online and print many of them out, and it took him quite a while to do all of them. He was relieved to finish before dinner.

After dinner, he could finally relax. Since there was some light rain outside, he decided not to go for a walk, and instead stayed in his room and surfed the Web on his phone. Suddenly his phone began ringing. He figured it was just some random telemarketer, since his friends usually texted him, rather than calling. But to his surprise, Lyra was the one calling him. He felt himself blush a bit as he answered the call. "Hi, Lyra. What's up?"

"Hey, Sky!" Lyra said on the other end. "I heard things have been rough for you recently, so I figured I'd call you to cheer you up!"

Sky could hear Lyra giggling quietly and blushed again. Lyra's giggle was so adorable! "Yeah, I got suspended yesterday for getting in a fight."

Lyra gasped. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Sky replied. He chuckled. "Trust me, my opponent came off way worse than I did."

"Well, that's good, but who'd you get in a fight with?"

"Noteworthy. He got suspended too."

Lyra sighed. "Oh, that guy. The guy who tried to hit on me just because he was mad at you over a badminton game."

"Yeah... I saw that. I confronted him just after you left. What exactly did he do?"

"Well, I was minding my own business when he came over and got really close to me. I tried to back off, but he wouldn't leave me alone. He used horrible pickup lines and called me pretty over and over again, but I could tell he wasn't being genuine about it."

What Sky said next just sort of came out all at once. "Don't listen to him. You're not just pretty, you're beautiful."

There was a long silence. Sky began to worry that maybe he shouldn't have said that, and that Lyra had reacted the wrong way. But eventually Lyra broke the silence. "Do you... really think so?"

Sky scratched the back of his head. "Well, maybe that was a little forward, but yes, I do."

"Thanks." Lyra replied, simply but sweetly.

"No problem." said Sky. "Anyway... back to what happened yesterday?"

"Oh, yes. Well, he kept bothering me until you came along, then he looked at you and smirked. I then realized that not only was he not even interested in me, but he was only hitting on me because he wanted to get even with you. So I just straight up left at that point, and I'm glad I did."

"Yeah, you shouldn't bother with people like that. Anyway, I saw you leave, and went up to him to find out why he'd been bothering you. I soon came to the same conclusion as you did, and called him out on pretty much all of his past behavior up to that point. Then he took a swing at me, but I blocked it and hit him in the face. Vice Principal Luna took both of us to the office, and we were both suspended for three days."

"You know what, Sky? You did the right thing! Noteworthy had it coming to him."

"That's what pretty much everyone else has said, including my own parents. Since I didn't start the fight, they didn't punish me at all."

"Wow! You're lucky!" Lyra remarked. "I've never been in a fight or gotten suspended, but I guarantee you my parents would ground me and take away my phone if I did! Anyway, I've got to go now. I'm meeting Bon Bon at the gym for a Friendship Games training session."

"All right, see you later!" said Sky. He hung up and leaned back in his chair. He couldn't believe it. He'd complimented Lyra and she'd clearly appreciated it. Sherbert's advice had worked wonders.

He took a shower and went to sleep feeling much better.

Friday brought more rain and more schoolwork, but on Saturday the sun shone. It was very warm outside too, with not a cloud in the sky. Since the weather was so good, Sky had taken a walk down to the diner at the Canterlot Mall, and was now enjoying a refreshing vanilla milkshake as he made his way back to his apartment. As he passed by Canterlot High, he noticed several girls running laps around the track and doing various other workouts. He recognized Lyra and Bon Bon immediately, and could also make out Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. He was not as familiar with the remaining two girls. One had fiery red hair with yellow streaks, and Sky assumed that she was the Sunset Shimmer that Sherbert had told him about on his first day. The other had very long light pink hair, and if Sky could recall correctly, her name was Fluttershy.

However, Sky's gaze soon shifted back to Lyra. All of the girls were wearing tank tops and short shorts, and they all looked really hot. But of course, Lyra was the hottest of all no matter what she wore. Sky found himself so mesmerized by the sight of his crush jogging around the track that he wasn't looking where he was going, and he bumped into a girl. "Oops! Sorry!" he said.

"You should really watch where you're going." the girl replied bluntly. Sky recognized that voice. He looked at the girl and immediately recognized her as his cousin from Crystal Prep.

"Oh, hey!" Sky exclaimed. "Long time no see!"

Chapter 7: Girl-to-Guy Advice

"It's been quite a while, Sugar. How have you been?"

"I've been well, thank you. But it hasn't been that long. You slept over at my house last summer, and we're constantly texting each other."

Sky chuckled. "Oh, right. You never change, do you, Sugar?"

"Hey, you know me. I'm a straight-talking girl, I tell it like it is."

Sky was sitting on a bench near Canterlot High with his cousin Sugarcoat. She had silvery blue hair tied into two long pigtails, and wore a pair of orange-rimmed glasses. Her father, Silver Bullet, was the younger brother of Sky's father, Air Raider, while Sugarcoat's mother, Vanilla Creme, was good friends with Sky's mother, Evening Shade. As such, Sky and Sugarcoat had known each other for pretty much their entire lives and had become very close. They hung out frequently throughout the year and texted on a regular basis. In fact, Sky was much closer to Sugarcoat than he ever was to anyone he'd met in Manebridge. But now that Sky had made more friends in Canterlot and Sugarcoat was busy preparing for the Friendship Games, it had been a few weeks since they had contacted each other, even though they now lived in the same city.

"Anyway, me and the rest of the Crystal Prep Friendship Games team have been training pretty much every day." Sugarcoat continued. "My school has never lost against yours, and I don't intend on that changing."

"Does this training of yours include spying on our team?" Sky asked, figuring that that was what Sugarcoat had been doing before he bumped into her.

"Of course! We need to keep an eye on the competition. You know what they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. And I'm far more discreet about it than Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie."

Sky remembered the incident that had happened last week, when Rainbow and Pinkie attempted to spy on Crystal Prep's team and completely blew their cover. "Yeah, that was pretty embarrassing." he laughed.

"You bet it was. And my friends and I will be sure to remind Rainbow and Pinkie of that next time we see them, likely at the Games themselves." Sugarcoat paused. "Anyway, how have things been for you? You've barely texted me since moving here."

"Things have actually been going really well, all things considered." Sky replied. "The people here are way nicer than the people in Manebridge."

"Well, that's good." said Sugarcoat. "You always were sort of reclusive. And of course, I was always the outspoken one and basically did the talking for you." She put an arm around Sky's shoulders. "We sure make a great team."

Sky put his arm around Sugarcoat's shoulders. "We sure do, sis!"

At that moment, Wiz and Curly came around the bend. "Yo, Sky!" Curly shouted. "What's up, man?"

"Yeah, we weren't expecting to run into you around here!" said Wiz. He looked at Sugarcoat. "Speaking of which, who's your friend here?"

"My name's Sugarcoat. I'm Sky's cousin." Sugarcoat replied.

"Cool! Nice to meet you!" said Curly. "I'm guessing you live in Canterlot too?"

"Of course I do." said Sugarcoat. "I live in the city and I go to Crystal Prep. Although Sky here has somehow managed to avoid running into me until now." She gave Sky a playful nudge.

Sky chuckled. "Ah well. At least we crossed paths today, right? Sorry if I kept you hanging for a few weeks."

"It's all right." Sugarcoat replied. "I sort of figured settling into a new town would keep you busy."

"Yeah, it has." said Sky. "But don't worry - even though I've made a bunch of new friends since coming here, I'll always have room for you!"

"You'd better." said Sugarcoat with a smile. "We've been besties for pretty much as long as I can remember."

Wiz suddenly had a thought. "Wait a minute... Sky, aren't you not allowed to be on school grounds during your suspension?"

"Well, yes, but today's a Saturday and I'm technically not on school grounds." Sky replied. "This bench is not actually on the CHS campus."

"Wait, you got suspended?!" Sugarcoat exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"Oh boy." said Wiz. "We'd best leave you two to catch up." He and Curly headed off, leaving Sky and Sugarcoat alone again.

"All right then." said Sugarcoat. "How did you get yourself suspended, and for how long?"

"Three days." Sky replied. "Thursday, Friday and this coming Monday." He then explained the situation with Noteworthy.

"Wow. That guy really is an asshole." said Sugarcoat once Sky had finished his story. "I mean, all that over a stupid badminton game. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people who take something trivial and act like their entire life depends on it. And I agree with what pretty much everyone else has said. You did nothing wrong. That asshole had it coming to him."

"Yeah. To be honest, I'm really glad I punched him, even if I got suspended for it." said Sky. "I wasn't going to let him cause trouble for my friend just because he was mad at me."

Sugarcoat pat Sky on the back. "Good on you, bro. But speaking of that, I was not expecting you to have a crush on someone. You've never acted like the romantic type of guy."

"Yeah, I guess not." said Sky. "Then again, Manebridge wasn't exactly the best place for something like that."

"That's true. I've never been in a relationship either, mainly because pretty much all of the boys at CPA are a bunch of idiots. They think they're really smart but they're not. I mean, there are some who are decent, but none of them are really my type. Besides, I'm perfectly fine being single. I'm pretty busy with my studies, so I don't need a relationship distracting me."

Sky nodded. "I can understand that."

"So, who's this girl that you like?" Sugarcoat asked.

"Her name's Lyra Heartstrings." Sky replied. "She and her best friend Bon Bon used to go to Crystal Prep, so maybe you know them?"

"Yes, both of those names sound familiar." said Sugarcoat. "I shared a few classes with them back in eighth grade. Like CHS, CPA is a five-year school. They were only there for one year, though, as they both transferred to Canterlot High for ninth grade. In a private school like mine, only the absolute best can stay in, so the first year usually weeds out a lot of people."

"I figured that." said Sky. "Although as you probably already noticed, they're on the Friendship Games team now."

"Yeah, I see both of them out there on the track. No matter, this team still doesn't look strong enough to defeat ours, with or without former Crystal Prep students."

"We'll see. Anyway, Lyra and Bon Bon were the ones who gave me a tour of the school when I first arrived here, and I liked Lyra pretty much as soon as I met her. After that, all three of us became friends, and my feelings for Lyra have just been getting stronger and stronger ever since." Sky sighed. "I really hope I'm not on my way to the friend zone."

"In this situation, you need to think logically." Sugarcoat said firmly. "Do you have her number?"

"Yes. We exchanged numbers a couple weeks ago, and we text each other pretty much every day."

"Well, who usually initiates the conversation?"

Sky ran through in his head every texting conversation he'd had with Lyra so far. "It's been about 50-50." he finally concluded.

"Okay. If you text each other almost every day, and she initiates half of your conversations, then she clearly likes you to some extent." said Sugarcoat. "So I wouldn't worry about it if I were you."

Sky nodded. "That's good to know." Then he sighed again. "I just have this crippling fear of rejection. Mainly because of me getting rejected by this girl that I really liked back in eighth grade."

"Wait, you asked somebody out two years ago?" Sugarcoat exclaimed. "You never told me about that! But seriously, that's really young to be dating someone. No wonder it didn't work out."

"Yeah, that's true. I guess it sort of turned me off of dating for a while, though."

"I can understand that, but you're in a much better community now. And from what you've told me, it sounds like you're really close to asking Lyra out. You need to just do it."

"Well, all right, but the Games are next Sunday. That means I probably won't get a chance for the next week."

"It's fine if you have to wait another week. Just know that the chance is there, and you just need to take it when you can."

Sky smiled. "Thanks for helping me out with this. It's nice to get advice from a girl."

"No problem. Even if you're talking to a girl who doesn't actually have any experience with this sort of thing. But whatever. If my favorite cousin needs help, I'll do what I can." She got up from the bench. "Anyway, I have to go now and tell my teammates what I saw of your team. It was great seeing you again, Sky."

"You too, Sugar." Sky replied. Sugarcoat gave him a warm hug and then headed back toward the mall, where her friends were presumably waiting. Sky headed back to his apartment with renewed confidence.

Chapter 8: See How the Night Sky Glows

On the following Saturday morning, Sky slept in until ten o'clock. It had been a busy week for him, trying to get back into the swing of things after his suspension. He hadn't seen Noteworthy all week, but he certainly wasn't complaining about that. Since returning to school, he hadn't gotten many chances to talk to Lyra, because on the days when she wasn't working at the music store in the afternoon, she was busy training for the Friendship Games, which were approaching fast. The Games were to be held on Sunday at Canterlot High, and Sky would be there to watch on and support Lyra and the rest of the CHS team.

Sky had just gotten out of bed and gotten dressed into his usual clothes - a purple button-down T-shirt and black jeans - when his phone began ringing. He ran to his desk and picked up his phone to see who was calling. When he saw the name of the caller, he smiled. It was Lyra.

"Good morning, Lyra!" he said. "How have you been?"

"Morning, Sky!" Lyra replied on the other end. "I'm pretty tired from, you know, prepping for the Games. I actually just got up."

"Oh hey, me too!" said Sky. "I was pretty tired too, just from trying to settle back into school."

Lyra laughed. "Relatable." She sighed. "I really need to do something relaxing today."

"So do I." Sky agreed. He paused for a moment, then remembered the advice that Sugarcoat had given him the week before. "Say, I know what we could do together! If you're not busy tonight, do you want to go to the mall and get dinner there? If you're nervous about the Games tomorrow, maybe that'll help take your mind off of it."

When Sky finished speaking, he realized that he'd done it. He'd actually asked Lyra out. He was expecting a long silence as Lyra contemplated the offer, but to his surprise, she responded immediately. "Of course, that sounds great!" Lyra replied excitedly. "I'd love to go out with you! Where do you want to eat?"

"Does the Sweet Snacks Cafe sound good to you?" Sky asked. He'd only been to the mall a couple of times, and the Sweet Snacks Cafe was the only restaurant he knew. The food there was really good, though.

"Sure!" Lyra agreed. "What time were you thinking of?"

Sky thought for a moment. "Would six o'clock work?"

"Yep, that sounds good!"

"Great!" Sky was getting more and more excited. "I can pay if you want."

"Nah, I'd feel bad if I made you pay for everything." Lyra said kindly. "How about we go Dutch?"

Sky nodded. "Oh, all right. That sounds fair. Well then, I guess I'll see you tonight!"

"You too, Sky!"

Sky hung up and leaned back in his chair. He felt great. His dream was about to come true. Tonight, he and Lyra would go out together for the first time. He was a bit nervous, but looking forward to it enormously.

Sky figured that he should let his parents know ahead of time. He left his room and headed out to the living room of his apartment, where his parents were sitting on the couch together. "Good morning." he said as he entered the room.

"Morning, buddy." said Air Raider, Sky's dad, who was using his laptop.

"I see you're finally awake." said Evening Shade.

"Yeah, I was pretty tired from this week, just getting back into the usual school routine." Sky said as he sat down on the couch. "Speaking of which, I thought I'd let you know that I'm going to the mall with Lyra tonight."

"Oh, really?" Evening asked. "I remember you mentioning Lyra before. Was she one of the girls who showed you the high school last month?"

"Yep. It was her and Bon Bon. I've been friends with them both for a while now. This morning I asked Lyra if she wanted to get dinner at the mall tonight, and she said yes."

"So you asked her out?" Air asked.

"I guess you could say that, yeah." said Sky.

Air pat Sky on the back. "Congratulations, buddy! I guess this will be your first date! Just so you know, I feel very old right now."

Evening nodded in agreement. "Just be sure to treat her like a gentleman and you'll do great."

"Don't worry, I will." said Sky. He got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen to get himself breakfast.

At half past five, Sky made sure to comb his hair and shave before he left to go to the mall. He wanted to make sure he looked as nice as he could for his first date. After saying goodbye to his parents, he headed out of his apartment and into the elevator. He rode the elevator down to the lobby, and then went outside.

Since daylight saving time had begun a couple of weeks ago, it was still warm and sunny outside at this hour. As Sky made his way to the Canterlot Mall, he allowed himself to bask in the evening sun. The mall was located some distance away from his apartment building, but Sky had always been a fast walker, so he ended up getting there several minutes ahead of schedule. Outside the Sweet Snacks Cafe, there was no sign of Lyra, so Sky found a bench near the entrance and sat down. He was reading some random news articles on his phone when Lyra sat down on the bench and slid over so that she was right next to Sky. "Hey, Sky." she said in a soft, sweet voice. "Did I keep you waiting?"

Sky felt his face begin to get warm from Lyra being so close to him. "No, no, not really. I only got here a few minutes ago."

"Well, that's good." Lyra said with a smile. "Really wouldn't want to be late for our hangout, would I?"

Sky chuckled nervously. "Me neither. That's why I left about half an hour in advance. Anyway, are you ready to eat?"

"Of course I am! The food here is amazing!" Lyra got up and beckoned for Sky to follow her to the door. Sky did so and opened the door for her. Lyra smiled. "Thanks, Sky." she said as she entered the diner.

"No problem." Sky replied. "What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't?"

Lyra blushed lightly as she and Sky found an empty booth and sat down. Shortly after, a waitress with light blue hair arrived at their booth. "Hi! I'm Sugarsocks and I'll be your server tonight." the waitress said with a smile as she handed a pair of menus to Sky and Lyra. "Can I start you off with something to drink?"

Lyra and Sky exchanged glances. "We'll both have strawberry milkshakes." said Lyra. Sky nodded.

"Sure thing!" Sugarsocks left to make the milkshakes. She returned with them quite soon. "Here you go!" she said as she placed the milkshakes in front of Sky and Lyra. "Can I get you anything to eat?"

"I'll just have a bacon cheeseburger." said Lyra.

"I'll have what she's having." Sky said with a smile.

"No problem!" Sugarsocks went back to the kitchen to prepare their food.

Lyra turned her head to peer at Sky's shirt. Sky became nervous and looked down. "Is... there something on my shirt?" he asked.

"Oh, no." said Lyra. "I was just wondering what the building symbol on it means. You've never told me about it."

Sky smiled and pointed to the symbol on his shirt pocket. "Oh, this? This represents my interest in architecture. It's an interest I've had since I was really young."

Lyra's face lit up. "That's really cool! One of my dad's friends is an architect, and he lives in Manehattan."

"Wow, that's awesome!" said Sky. "You know, I've never actually been to Manehattan. What's it like?"

"I've been there a bunch of times." Lyra explained. "You'd love it, it's a really cool city! There's so much stuff to do. I mean, you've got Bridleway, Saddle Row, Manehattan Escapes, you name it! And of course, the Statue of Liberty."

"It definitely sounds like a fun place." said Sky. "I'm not a fan of the huge crowds there, though."

"I understand that." said Lyra. "When I first went there, I didn't like the crowds, either. You get used to it, though, once you've been there for a while. My big sister lives there, and she'll say pretty much the same thing."

"I didn't know you had a sister!" Sky remarked. "How old is she?"

"Her name's Minty." said Lyra. "She's 21, so she's five years older than me. She's in her junior year at Flash Magnus Memorial University."

"Cool!" said Sky. "I've heard that's a really good college, with one of the best architecture programs."

"Yeah, and it's got one of the top music programs in the country too." Lyra added. "So I'm already looking into it, since Minty's having such a great time there."

Sky smiled. "I might consider it too, especially if you are." he said, causing Lyra to blush lightly.

At that moment, Sugarsocks returned with a pair of bacon cheeseburgers. "Here you go!" she said. "Enjoy!"

"Thank you!" said Lyra. Sky smiled and nodded in agreement.

Sky then looked at the golden pendant around Lyra's neck. "I'm guessing that lyre necklace of yours represents your musical talent?"

Lyra smiled. "Yep! I've been playing the lyre since elementary school. My goal is to become a musician someday."

"That sounds like it'd be really cool." said Sky. "I've always liked string instruments myself, but I have absolutely no musical talent at all!" He laughed. "Plus, I could never play an instrument in front of a crowd. I'd get stage fright."

"Hey, no shame in that." Lyra said with a smile. She winked at Sky. "If you're ever interested, I'd be more than happy to teach you how to play."

Sky blushed. That was the first time that Lyra had winked at him in person. "Um... sure, that sounds great." he said. He took a bite of his burger and washed it down with his milkshake. "Oh boy, I forgot how good the burgers here were!" he remarked.

"Well, like I said, the food here is amazing!" said Lyra, taking a bite of hers as well.

"It sure is." said Sky. "Say, going back to what we were talking about earlier, are you part of of CHS band?"

"Yep!" said Lyra. "I play the lyre, of course, and I'm just about the only person in Canterlot who knows how to play it."

"That's awesome!" said Sky. He sighed. "I wish I had a special talent like that. It seems like no matter what I'm good at, there's always someone who's a lot better than me."

Lyra looked at Sky with a sad expression. "Come on, Sky, don't be so hard on yourself!" she said kindly. "I know you, and you're good at lots of things! For one thing, you're about a million times better at drawing than I could ever be."

Sky smiled. "Thanks. I've always been sort of a perfectionist, though, which caused me no end of stress when I was younger."

"Oh well. You know what they say, the past is in the past." Lyra said with a smile. "Besides, being a perfectionist just shows that you care about your work!"

Sky blushed again. "Well, I guess that's one way of looking at it." he admitted. "Just wondering, how long have you and Bon Bon known each other? You two seem so close."

Lyra smiled. "Oh, Bonnie and I go way back! We've been besties since kindergarten!"

"Wow!" Sky remarked. "You've known each other for that long?"

"Oh, sure!" said Lyra. "I still remember when we met for the first time, on the first day of school for both of us!"

"That's really cool!" said Sky. "It must be nice, having a friend that you've known for ten years."

Lyra nodded. "It definitely is!" She giggled. "Bonnie and I were pretty much inseparable all throughout elementary and middle school. We were in all of the same classes together, and after middle school, we both moved up to Crystal Prep."

"Oh yeah, you told me about that." said Sky. "You transferred to CHS after one year, though. I guess Crystal Prep didn't work for either of you?"

"No, it most certainly did not." said Lyra. "I tell you, that school is full of arrogant jerks, and the teachers are even worse. I can't wait to beat them in the Games tomorrow!"

"Yeah, that's not the first time I've heard that said about Crystal Prep." said Sky. "Although I do know one girl who goes there. She's my cousin, and also my best friend."

"Really?" Lyra asked. "Who is it?"

"You might actually know her." said Sky. "Her name's Sugarcoat. She's on the Crystal Prep Friendship Games team this year."

Lyra was surprised. "Seriously?" she exclaimed. "Sugarcoat's your cousin?"

"Yep!" said Sky. "I'm so happy to be in the same city as her now."

"Not gonna lie, I would not have guessed that you and Sugarcoat would be related." said Lyra. "I knew Sugarcoat back in eighth grade. Contrary to her name, she doesn't sugarcoat anything!"

"You got that right!" Sky laughed. "She and I have been besties for pretty much our entire lives, though. She's been my rock for as long as I can remember. I was really reclusive and socially awkward when I was little, and so Sugar basically did the talking for me. Even when I didn't really have any friends at school, I always had her."

Lyra smiled warmly. "Aw, that's really sweet! How often do you guys hang out?"

"Too many times to count!" Sky laughed. "I don't actually have any siblings, but I've always considered Sugar to be my sister."

"Sounds amazing!" said Lyra. "None of my cousins live anywhere close to me, and so I'm not really close with any of them."

"Nothing wrong with that." said Sky. "Sugar's really the only cousin that I'm close with. Did you have any friends at Crystal Prep besides Bon Bon?"

"Of course I did! Bonnie and I mostly hung out with four other girls in the same grade as us: Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts and Moondancer. We're still in touch with them, and I really hope we see them at the Games tomorrow!"

"Nice!" said Sky. "I'm looking forward to seeing Sugar tomorrow, too!"

By now, both Sky and Lyra had finished their dinner. "I'm going to the bathroom, my hands are all greasy." said Sky.

Lyra nodded. "Yeah, so are mine." She and Sky went to their respectively gendered bathrooms to wash their hands. Shortly after they returned, Sugarsocks came back with the check and told them what the total for their meal would be. As they had agreed, Sky and Lyra each paid half of the bill. Then they got up from their booth.

"Have a nice day!" Sugarsocks called as the pair of them left.

"You too!" Sky replied. He turned to Lyra. "Do you want to go outside or walk around the mall for a bit?"

"Why don't we walk through the mall?" said Lyra. "The other end of the mall is closer to my house, anyway. Plus, I'd love to spend more time with you tonight." She gave Sky a somewhat flirtatious nudge.

Sky felt his face get very warm from the nudge. "Um... all right. Through the mall we go!" He and Lyra headed out the diner's other entrance and into the mall proper.

The Canterlot Mall was full of life tonight, with many people talking and laughing as they walked in and out of the various stores. Sky and Lyra stuck close by one another so as not to lose each other in the crowd. Occasionally, their hands or arms would brush against one another, causing Sky and Lyra to glance at each other and blush lightly. They eventually reached the center of the mall, with the famous golden water fountain. Sky and Lyra could at last have some peace and quiet alone with one another as they stood near the fountain, watching the water shoot up into the air and fall back down.

Lyra reached into her pocket and pulled out a penny. She then tossed it into the fountain. "Made a wish." she giggled.

Sky smiled knowingly. "What'd you wish for?"

Lyra laughed. "I can't tell you, silly! Then it won't come true!" She pulled another penny out of her pocket. "Try it, Sky!" Sky held out his hand and allowed Lyra to place the penny in his open palm.

Sky thought for a moment and in his mind, he wished for him and Lyra to grow an everlasting relationship. But of course, he wasn't going to tell Lyra that. He tossed the penny into the fountain and it disappeared in the water jets.

"Made your wish?" Lyra asked.

"Yes, I did!" Sky said happily.

"Awesome! Let's go!" Lyra led Sky to a door near the fountain, and they stepped out into the night. It was still warm outside, and the sun hadn't fully set yet. Lyra sighed peacefully. "I love nights like this."

Sky smiled. "So do I." He looked down the street and noticed that the west entrance to the town park was nearby. The last time he'd been in the park, and all the times before, he'd gone in through the east entrance. He remembered the jaw-droppingly beautiful view he'd seen last month, and really wanted to show it to Lyra. "How about we go to the park?" he asked her. "There's something amazing there that I would love to show you!"

Lyra's eyes lit up. "Of course! That sounds wonderful!"

"Awesome!" said Sky. He and Lyra strolled down the lit suburban street to the park. The metal gate that marked the entrance was still open, and inside the park, the light poles that lined the concrete pathways were all lit up. Sky and Lyra walked slowly, enjoying the warm light and each other's company. There was no one else in the park but them.

"I forgot how nice this place is." said Lyra. "Especially on a night like tonight!"

"Our town sure has a great park." Sky agreed. "On nights like these, I usually take a walk through the town, and most of time, I end up here sooner or later. I've always liked walking at this hour. Nothing brightens my spirits more than a calm night breeze." Lyra smiled and nodded in agreement.

Soon the pair arrived at a fork in the path. The path to the left went up a mild gradient and into the trees. "Let's go this way." Sky said, pointing to the left.

"Of course!" said Lyra. "I've never been up there before." She and Sky began walking up the narrow path, which Sky was sure led to the view from the cliff.

Compared to the path that Sky had taken the first time he'd gone up this hill, this path was long and winding, but also much less steep. Since it wasn't quite dark yet, Sky and Lyra had no problem seeing in front of them. Tall trees lined both sides of the path, silhouetted by the light from the setting sun. Lyra found herself enamored by the sunlit trees to either side and the almost violet sky above. She sighed happily. "This place is so pretty."

Sky smiled. "Trust me, you haven't even seen the best of it yet."

The path went onward and gradually upward for quite some distance, but eventually Sky could see an opening in the trees up ahead. "We're almost there!" he said as he pointed to the light.

Lyra laughed. "Well, it's about time! What is it up there that's so amazing?"

Sky winked at Lyra. "You'll see!" He led Lyra up the rest of the way to the top of the cliff. When they got there, it was even more beautiful than Sky had remembered.

"Lyra... Look at that."

Lyra was at the edge of a cliff, and out beyond the cliff was a breathtaking view of the entire city and more. There was a lake directly below, with the sunlight shimmering off of the water. Past that were all the lights of Canterlot, both the houses of the suburbs and the tall buildings of the city. The entire place looked absolutely incredible from above.

Beyond the suburbs, Lyra could see all the way out to the hills that lined the edges of Canterlot, and beyond the city, she could see the ocean. She'd never had such an expansive view of a city before, and couldn't believe that she'd never been up this path until now.

Lyra was so awestruck that she almost didn't know what to say. "This... this is beautiful!" she finally exclaimed.

Sky blushed and smiled. "I figured you'd like it."

Lyra laughed. "Like it? I love it! I've been living in this amazing town for my entire life... how could I have never come up here before?"

Sky shrugged. "Not a lot of people know about this place, I guess. But a view like this is rare and beautiful." Sky put his hand on Lyra's shoulder. "Just like you, Lyra."

Lyra blushed and her beautiful golden eyes twinkled. "Sky... no one has ever said anything like that to me before." She paused before putting her hand on Sky's shoulder. "Getting to spend this entire evening with you has been absolutely amazing."

Sky felt his face getting warm again. "The feeling is more than mutual." he said softly, and he and Lyra shared a long, warm hug. Lyra leaned her head on Sky's shoulder, and Sky stroked Lyra's soft minty green hair. Sky felt a warm, fuzzy feeling on the inside, one that he'd never felt before in his life.

Eventually, Sky and Lyra let go of one another and stood at the edge of the cliff, together gazing out at the entire town of Canterlot as well as the hills and oceans beyond. As they watched the sun gradually set and the sky turn a darker shade of blue, Sky brushed his hand against Lyra's, and Lyra grabbed onto it, causing Sky to blush and smile nervously again.

As they stood hand-in-hand together at the edge of the cliff, Sky realized that he could see his apartment building far off in the distance. He pointed to it. "There's my apartment building!" he said.

Lyra looked to where Sky had pointed. "Your place must be really nice." she said softly. She then looked down to one of the houses closer to the park. "I can see my house down there." she said, pointing to it.

"You have a really nice place, too." said Sky, looking to where Lyra had pointed. He sighed once again. "Being up here, just the two of us, seeing the entire city from the air... it really makes you realize how small we actually are, doesn't it?"

Lyra nodded. "Yeah. And to think that this is just one city, in one of the smallest states in the country... it really puts things in perspective." She smiled. "It's just so relaxing up here. So quiet and peaceful, so free from everyday stress. This was just what I needed to clear my mind before tomorrow."

Sky smiled warmly. "I'm glad I could help."

"I really appreciate it." said Lyra. "It's getting kind of late, though. I really don't want to stay up for too long on the night before the Games."

"All right." said Sky. "Do you... want me to walk you home?"

Lyra smiled. "Sure. That sounds great."

"Very well then. You'll have to give me directions, though." Sky chuckled.

"No problem." Lyra led Sky back down the long, winding path through the trees, still holding onto his hand. They exited the park together and headed back out onto the main road. Lyra and Sky strolled down the main road for some distance before turning onto a quiet side street that Sky had never seen before. Lyra stopped in front of a light green two-story house. "Is this your house?" Sky asked.

"Yep!" Before parting, Lyra smiled warmly at Sky again. "Good night, Sky. Thanks so much for a lovely night out." She gave Sky a peck on the cheek, then headed up the front steps of her house. Sky silently watched her go through the door. Then he began walking back toward his own home in a state of euphoria.

Chapter 9: Dirty Rumors, Part I

"Well, that was one insane Friendship Games." Sky remarked at lunch the following Monday.

"Tell me about it!" said Wiz. "I mean, that's the third time someone possessed by otherworldly magic has wreaked havoc at this school."

"But aw the same, I'm glad Twilight's here noo." said Sherbert. "Shair, magic may hae gotten the better o' her yisterday, but she's a real cute lass. I juist met her yisterday, but she an' I are awready startin' tae become freends."

"And to think that just a few weeks ago, I'd said it was time for you to let Twilight go." Emerald chuckled. "Well, this Twilight isn't actually the same Twilight as the one from before, but you see what I mean."

"Aye! I canna believe me luck either!" Sherbert agreed. "Sometimes, ye get a second chance that ye didna see comin. Speakin' o' which, how are things gaein between ye an' Tree Hugger?"

Emerald smiled. "Really well! She and I have become pretty good friends over these past few weeks. I'm hoping to ask her out to the Spring Fling next month. It'll be my first school dance, and I'm really excited for it."

"That's great tae hear!" said Sherbert. "I'm hopin tae ask Twilight, o' course. Hopefully I'll hae better luck wi' her than I did wi' the ither Twilight."

"Oh, I'm sure you will." said Sky. "I mean, if you're already friends after less than 24 hours, that's really good."

"Och aye." Sherbert agreed. "I'm guessin ye'll be gaein tae the dance wi' Lyra?"

Sky nodded. "Hopefully, yes." He turned to Wiz and Curly. "Do you guys have anyone you're hoping to go to the dance with?"

Curly shook his head. "Nope. Usually I just go with a group of friends, mainly athletes."

Wiz shrugged. "I've never even been to a school dance. Maybe that'll change this year, maybe it won't. Who knows."

Curly laughed. "You're missing out, dude! The dances here are really fun, whether you have a date or not!"

Wiz smiled. "Well, if you say so, then I may just have to see for myself."

"You should!" said Curly.

Sherbert nodded in agreement. He then turned to Sky. "Anywey, how hae things been between ye an' Lyra?" Sherbert asked. He then winked. "Hae ye askt her oot yet?"

Sky smiled. "Believe it or not, yes. I had dinner with her at the mall on Saturday evening, and we went for a nice walk in the park afterwards. At the top of the cliff, there's this spot with an amazing view of the city and the ocean. I showed it to her, and she was just as mesmerized by it as I was the first time I saw it." Sky sighed happily. "Ah, that was such an amazing night."

"That sounds pretty great to me!" Emerald said in agreement.

"Aye! Congratulations, laddie!" put in Sherbert.

"Thanks, guys." said Sky. "I just hope Lyra likes me enough to go out with me again."

Sherbert smiled and winked at Sky. "I think ye'll hae no worries thare."

"What do you mean?" Sky asked.

"Well, ye must remember hou mad she got when that weird bipolar lass started flirtin wi' ye yisterday."

Sky thought back to what had happened at the games the day before...

Yesterday...

The welcome party for Crystal Prep was in full swing, and everyone finally seemed to be getting along, thanks to some much-needed intervention by Pinkie Pie, who brought a pair of party cannons and some nice disco music. Lyra and Bon Bon had introduced Sky to Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine and Moondancer, and the group had hit it off splendidly.

"It's so great to meet you, Sky!" Minuette giggled. The blue-haired girl was definitely the chattiest and most excitable girl in the group. "Lyra talks about you all the time!"

"She... she does?" Sky asked, a bit surprised.

"Oh, sure!" Minuette went on. "She's had nothing but good things to say about you! Isn't that right?" She gave Lyra a playful nudge.

Lyra blushed lightly. "Of course! We are really good friends, after all."

"Yeah, we kind of figured that from how often you talk about him to us." said Twinkleshine. She turned to Sky. "So, how long have you been in Canterlot?"

"Only about a month and a half." Sky replied. "I moved here from Manebridge in the middle of February because my dad got a new job here."

"So you're from Manebridge?" Moondancer remarked. "I heard that city is kind of a dump. No offense, of course."

Sky laughed. "Absolutely none taken, I totally agree with you! It used to be okay, but over the past few years it's just gone really downhill, probably because of the stupid new mayor that they elected. I'm glad I don't live there anymore."

"I can imagine." said Lemon Hearts. "How do you like Canterlot so far?"

Sky smiled. "It's been great! Better than Manebridge in every way. Most of the people at CHS are really nice."

"That's great to hear!" said Minuette. "I've never been on board with the CHS vs. CPA rivalry. I mean, they're both really great schools, so why can't we all just accept that?" Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine and Moondancer nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I don't get it either." Sky agreed. "I mean, I get a really nice and relaxed vibe from you girls, and I have a cousin who goes to Crystal Prep too. She and I have known each other forever."

"Ooh, who is she?" Minuette asked with interest.

"You know Sugarcoat, the girl with the silver twintails? Yep, that's my cousin!" said Sky.

"Really?" Bon Bon asked. "Wow, I wouldn't have guessed it!"

Minuette smiled brightly. "What a coincidence! I was just talking to her on the way here!"

Sky chuckled. "It's a small world, isn't it?"

"It sure is!" said Minuette.

Just then, the girl herself arrived. "Hey, Sky!" said Sugarcoat. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?"

"Sugar!" Sky exclaimed. "Good to see you here! I've just been hanging out with some of my friends. I'm sure you're familiar with them."

"Of course I am!" Sugarcoat replied. She turned to Lyra and Bon Bon. "It's been a long time since I saw you two. I hear you've become really good friends with Sky."

"It sure has!" said Lyra. "And yes, Sky's a great friend of both of us. But especially me!"

Bon Bon rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I haven't seen you since eighth grade." she remarked. "How have you been?"

"I've been great." said Sugarcoat. "I'm ready to go out there and win for Crystal Prep!"

Lyra smirked. "We'll see about that!"

Just then, Sky and the girls heard an angry voice behind them, and a girl with straight maroon hair tied in a ponytail came running up. "Sugarcoat!" she demanded. "What are you doing!?! How are we supposed to prepare for the Games if all you do is chat up the competition!?!"

Sugarcoat sighed heavily. "Oh great, it's you, Sour Sweet. I'm talking to my cousin and some of his friends." she said matter-of-factly. "Besides, four of them are from Crystal Prep, so they're not our competition."

"Well, Lyra and Bon Bon are our competition, so you're not allowed to talk to them!" Sour Sweet shot back.

Sky was frustrated. "You can't tell my cousin who she can and can't talk to!" he snapped. "You're not her mother!"

At that moment, Sour's demeanor completely flipped. "Oh my gosh, you're Sky Scraper!" she exclaimed in an obnoxiously sweet voice that sounded completely fake to Sky. "Sugarcoat told me all about you! I haven't even met you before, but you just seem like the sweetest guy in the world!" She put her arm around Sky's shoulder and pulled him close to her.

Sky tried to pry Sour's arm off of him. "Can you let go of me?" he grunted. As uncomfortable as he was, he never used violence against a girl unless she did so first.

Sour Sweet continued on trying to flirt. "I already feel a wonderful connection between us!" she sighed dreamily.

This made Lyra absolutely furious. "Leave Sky alone!" she growled, and got ready to tackle Sour. But before she could, Sugarcoat intervened.

"All right, that's more than enough!" she said firmly, and pulled Sour away from Sky.

Upon being pulled away, Sour returned to being angry and snippy. "Fine! Be that way!" she retorted. "Don't share your cute cousin with anyone else!" She stormed off in a huff.

"What was the deal with her?" Sky asked, feeling very confused.

"Don't mind her. She's always like that." Sugarcoat replied reassuringly. "I mean, her name's Sour Sweet. What did you expect?"

Sky chuckled. "Fair point."

Lyra was still angry. "I swear, if I see that bitch again..." she muttered.

"Don't bother with her." said Sugarcoat. "I'll see to it that she doesn't try to bother you or Sky any more."

"Good!" said Lyra.

Sherbert had witnessed the whole incident from four bleachers above. Och, Sky shair dodged a bullet thare, he thought to himself.

"Oh, I definitely remember that." Sky replied. "Man, if Sugar hadn't stepped in, that could have gotten ugly."

"Definitely." Sherbert agreed. "I saw the whole thing fae the bleachers, an' I was juist waitin fer the exploosion. But it niver happent, thanks tae yer cousin."

"Yeah, it was really lucky that she was there." said Sky. "I just hope Lyra isn't too steamed up about it anymore."

"Or you'd better hope that Lyra hasn't seen sense and ditched you for good." said an all-too-familiar voice. Sky turned around and saw Noteworthy with a very arrogant sneer on his face.

"Well, if it isn't Mister Jerkface." Sky remarked. "What the hell do you want?"

"You think you're a hard man, don't you?" Noteworthy went on. "You wish you were as good as me."

"I don't wish to be as good as you!" Sky retorted. "I'm better!"

"Oh yeah?" Noteworthy snarled. "Then why haven't you gotten hitched with Lyra already? If she was with me, her lips would be on mine at all hours."

"But she's not with you." said Sky. "She likes me. She doesn't like you."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that!" Noteworthy laughed. "She and I are in the band together. I play the saxophone, a.k.a. the ultimate chick magnet. You can't beat that!"

"He's already beaten that by being a nice person and a good friend, unlike you!" Emerald interjected.

"Aye!" put in Sherbert. "Ye're naething but a wee prick tae everyone, and tae be honest, ye're the warst lad I've iver met! Even waur than Flash Sentry!"

"Oh look, now Rarity's ex-boyfriend is talking!" Noteworthy sneered.

"At least his relationship with her lasted more than a week, unlike yours!" said Curly.

"That's irrelevant!" Noteworthy snapped. He turned back to Sky. "Mark my words, Sky. Lyra's going to lust for me eventually, and when she does, she'll be mine for eternity. I'll never keep my hands off of her. Ever."

At Noteworthy's latest remark, Sky completely snapped. He jumped up from his seat, grabbed Noteworthy by the collar and slammed him against the table hard. Emerald, Sherbert, Wiz and Curly were shocked.

Sky held Noteworthy down and pointed one finger in his face. "If you so much as lay one finger on Lyra, I will kill you!" he growled menacingly. "Literally kill you, with my bare hands!"

"Hey, hey, break it up!" another voice shouted. Mr. Blackpool, Canterlot High's groundskeeper, came running to the scene. "What happened between the two of you?" he asked, pointing to Sky and Noteworthy.

"He was being rude to me and my friends, and I wasn't going to put up with it." Sky responded flatly.

Mr. Blackpool nodded. "You're both lucky I'm not a teacher, because that means I can't write you up. Just don't touch each other again." He turned and walked away to continue sweeping the cafeteria floor.

Noteworthy pushed Sky's hand off of his collar. "Between you and me, this isn't over. Principal Celestia may have moved me to a different gym class, but I'm not just going to disappear. Your days as Lyra's friend are numbered." He got up off the table and strode away with his characteristic pompous swagger.

Sherbert gave Sky a pat on the back. "Guid job, Sky. Ye shawed him who's boss."

"Thanks." Sky replied. He clenched his fists. "But seriously, I have had it with that guy's sh*t! I've punched him once already. If he tries anything else, I might do something even worse."

"I understand." said Emerald. "If he does approach you again, we'll all have your back."

"Although if you two ever get in another fight, you'd definitely kick his ass." Curly added.

"Oh, I'm sure I would." said Sky. "I'm not afraid of him."

"We already knew that." said Wiz. "We just want you to know that we'll always be on your side. We're your friends, after all." Sherbert, Emerald and Curly nodded in agreement.

Just then, the lunch bell rang, and everyone had to go to their next class. This meant it was time for Sky to find Lyra and Bon Bon. As per usual, he met up with them near the cafeteria exit. "You girls ready for chemistry?" he asked.

"Not really!" Lyra chuckled. "I'm still tired from the Games."

"Yeah, so am I." Bon Bon agreed.

"In my humble opinion, you both should have been in the second event." said Sky.

Lyra smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Sky. As fun as the games were, I'm still really annoyed that I missed the Tri-Cross Relay by two points."

"I probably would have made it, but the baking competition killed me." put in Bon Bon.

"Oh, right. The one where you and Flash Sentry somehow managed to bake a loaf of bread instead of a cake!" Lyra laughed.

"Yep, that's the one." said Bon Bon. "I had an idea for a really good cake, but nope, Flash insisted that we follow his recipe, and you know how that turned out."

"Honestly, just don't pair yourself up with that guy for anything." said Sky. "He's in my History class, and pretty much every day, Miss Harshwhinny yells at him because he either didn't do his homework, showed up late to class, or both!"

"Oh jeez!" Lyra giggled.

"Indeed." Sky agreed. "I bet he was only in the Games because someone got desperate."

"I would not be surprised!" said Bon Bon.

As soon as Sky stepped through the front door of CHS on Wednesday morning, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. Many students, mostly girls, seemed to be glaring in his direction. Sky became even more concerned when he saw Sherbert and Emerald standing around with worried expressions.

Sky walked over to his friends. "Is there something going on here that I don't know about?" he asked, very puzzled.

Sherbert shook his head. "Och, I think ye ken whit's gaein oan richt noo, lad."

Sky was now even more confused. "Um... I actually don't know what's going on. Can you tell me?"

"Okay, I'm really surprised that you don't know what's going on." said Emerald. "Look, I get that you're angry about this whole thing with Noteworthy, but you really need to be careful about what you say on social media. You should probably stay away from Lyra for a while." He and Sherbert turned and headed to their respective classes.

Sky was now in a state of complete bewilderment. He had no idea what Emerald was talking about. He decided to look for Lyra and find out what was actually happening. It wasn't long before he did.

Lyra and Bon Bon were sitting together on a bench further down the hall. Lyra was leaning on Bon Bon's shoulder and crying quietly, while Bon Bon was doing her best to console her.

Sky was shocked, and worried for the girl he loved. "Oh my gosh, what happened?!" he exclaimed.

"You posted some disgusting things about my best friend on SnapGab!" Bon Bon snapped. "What do you think happened?!"

"What!?!" Sky cried, feeling even more mystified. "I don't even use SnapGab! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I can't believe you, Sky!" Lyra muttered through tears, a remark that pierced right through Sky's heart.

"Me neither." said Bon Bon. "Come on, Lyra, let's just go to class." She and Lyra got up from the bench, turned their backs to Sky, and trudged angrily away.

Sky felt terrible. He wasn't even sure what he was supposed to think in such a bizarre situation as this. He frantically dug his phone out of his backpack and opened the SnapGab app. Then he typed his own name into the search bar. Two results popped up. The first result was his own account, which he had named SkyScraper39. The second account was called TheRealSkyScraper1. Knowing that he had never posted anything on his own account, and wondering if some sort of mix-up had occurred, Sky clicked on TheRealSkyScraper1. He was horrified by what he saw.

A picture of Lyra, the same one as her SnapGab profile picture, had been posted on this account. The caption was as follows:

This is Lyra, my sexy woman for eternity. I got with her as soon as I got bored with White Flower, my previous lover from Crystal Prep. She belongs to me, and ONLY ME. She's my property, and if Noteworthy or any other guy so much as says a single word to her, I will track that guy down and beat him to death with my bare hands! And speaking of Noteworthy, I have absolutely had it with that f*cker's crap. The next time I see him, I will legitimately rip his brains out of his stupid head and paint them on the sidewalk. No one, and I mean NO ONE, goes near my girl and comes back alive!

Sky was absolutely disgusted by this post. He would never say something as awful as this about anyone, especially not on social media. He sat on the bench for a while, just trying to mentally process what had happened. Clearly, this post had not been made by him, and this account was not his. Someone was impersonating him online, and he was going to find out who.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 10: Dirty Rumors, Part II

At lunchtime, Sky walked into the cafeteria feeling absolutely miserable. Nearly everyone at school had given him a wide berth that morning, and during gym class even Cloudchaser and Flitter didn't talk to him. What made it worse was that he had no definitive way to prove that TheRealSkyScraper1 wasn't his account. After going through the lunch line and buying his food, he found a table at the back of the cafeteria and sat down. He was in no mood to be near anyone else, and he was sure no one else wanted to be near him.

Unbeknownst to him, his friends were watching him from their usual table. "Aw man, Sky's looking terrible right now." Curly sighed. "Do you think we should go over and talk to him?"

"At least one of us should." said Wiz. "I mean, we've all pretty much agreed that he's been framed."

"Aye." Sherbert agreed. "At first I believed it, but noo that I've thocht aboot it, it juist disna seem richt. I mean, I ken Sky got verra angry oan Monanday, but I juist canna see him postin sich nestie things."

"If any of us is going to make things right with him, it should be me." Emerald said firmly. "I didn't talk to him at all in English class this morning, and now I feel bad about it." He picked up his lunch tray and went to the back of the cafeteria.

Sky was sadly poking at his food when Emerald sat down next to him. "Hey, Sky." said Emerald. "Mind if I sit here?"

"What do you want, Emerald?" Sky grunted.

"Well, just listen for a minute." said Emerald. "I know about what happened between you and Lyra this morning, and I'm really sorry. But I've been discussing it with Sherbert, Wiz and Curly, and we all think that someone is impersonating you."

"Yeah, you think?" Sky snapped. "You've known me for a while now! Why the hell did you think I'd post something like that?" Then he backtracked a bit. "But... to be fair, I guess I did get pretty angry on Monday."

Emerald nodded. "You did, but I completely understand why. Speaking of which, I wouldn't be surprised if Noteworthy was the one impersonating you. I mean, I don't know of anyone else who has that much of a grudge against you."

Sky scowled. "Of course! Who else would it be?" He clenched his fists. "I swear, if I catch that prick in the act..."

"...then we'll make sure the whole school knows about it." Emerald finished. "But right now, I think the rest of the guys are all waiting for you." He got up from the table and began heading back to join Sherbert, Wiz and Curly. Sky followed.

"Hey, Sky." Sherbert said when Sky arrived. "Sorry aboot whit happent this morning. I shoud hae ken that ye'd niver post onything like that." Wiz and Curly nodded in agreement.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." said Sky. "Clearly, someone is impersonating me on SnapGab. And I think it's obvious who it is."

"Let me guess, it's Noteworthy." said Curly.

"Exactly." said Sky. "I'm guessing you already figured that out before I got here."

"Of course." said Wiz. "It couldn't be more obvious. He knows that he could never beat you in an actual fight, so he resorts to cyberbullying instead. That way, he looks like the victim and you look like the bully."

"We'll aw be shair tae keep a close ee oan Noteworthy," said Sherbert, "juist in case we see onything suspeecious. If we see onything, we'll be shair tae tell ye."

"That'll be great." said Sky. "But I have another problem, too. How do I win Lyra back? Unless I can prove my innocence, she'll never want to speak to me again."

"Let's focus on catching Noteworthy in the act first." Emerald suggested. "Once we expose him, I'm sure Lyra will come back to you."

"I hope so." Sky sighed.

Emerald pat Sky on the back. "Don't worry about this. I'm sure everything will be back to normal soon."

"Soon can't come soon enough..." Sky muttered.

At the end of the school day, Sky was still down in the dumps. During Chemistry and Algebra, Lyra had refused to speak to him or even make eye contact with him. As such, Sky's only option was to not initiate any conversation with her until he could prove his innocence. He also thought it best not to tell his parents about what had happened. When he got back to his apartment, Evening Shade could immediately sense that her son was not in a good mood. "Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing." Sky lied as he put his backpack down on a chair. "I just have a lot of homework today, that's all."

"Well, then you should get started on it soon." said Evening.

"Of course." Sky replied as he headed to the bathroom.

In reality, Sky didn't actually have any homework, but even that wasn't enough to cheer him up. When he was out of the bathroom, he headed into his room and closed the door, pretending to be busy working. He was actually listening to some classical music, which did make him feel a little bit better. He had somewhat of an addiction to "Funeral March of a Marionette".

Eventually, Sky felt like he needed to give someone a ring, and he knew just the girl to call. He dialed Sugarcoat's number and within seconds, she picked up. "Hey, Sky! How are you?" she asked.

"I'm pretty terrible right now." Sky replied. "Which is why I needed to talk to you. For emotional support."

"Of course. I'll always be there for you." Sugarcoat said kindly. "Anyway, I'm guessing this is about what happened on SnapGab?"

Sky groaned. "You saw it too?!"

"Relax! It's all right." Sugarcoat explained. "Yes, I did see it, but I knew it couldn't have been you."

Sky breathed a sigh of relief.

"What made you think I would believe any of that crap?" Sugarcoat laughed. "I've known you forever! I know you'd never say those kinds of things about anyone."

Sky nodded. "Thanks. I knew I could count on you. The problem is that Lyra, and nearly everyone else except the guys I'm friends with, all think I'm an asshole now."

Sugarcoat thought for a moment. "Well, since you obviously aren't TheRealSkyScraper1, do you have any idea who is?"

"It's pretty obvious." Sky replied. "It has to be Noteworthy. He and I had another confrontation on Monday. My friends all think it's Noteworthy too."

"Yes, that would definitely make him the prime suspect." Sugarcoat agreed. "Do you have any idea how you're going to catch him in the act?"

"That's going to be the hard part." Sky conceded. "My friends and I will all be keeping a close eye on him. But getting mud on him may not be easy."

"Have you considered just sitting down with Lyra and explaining the situation?" Sugarcoat asked.

Sky sighed again. "Well, she was crying about it with Bon Bon this morning, and this afternoon she refused to even make eye contact with me. I'm afraid that if I try to talk to her, I'll only make the situation worse."

"Just give it time." Sugarcoat advised. "Things might be different tomorrow. Lyra will probably realize soon enough that you would never say those things."

"Maybe, but unless I can prove it, I'm not sure it'll matter." Sky said sadly. "You know, I was going to go for a walk tonight, and I could use some company. Want me to come to your house after dinner?"

"Sure!" said Sugarcoat. "I'd never say no to hanging out with you."

"Great!" said Sky. "See you tonight." He hung up, feeling better than he had all day. At least there was one girl who still trusted him.

That evening, Sky ambled down a quiet street near the ocean. The shape of Sugarcoat's house loomed against the violet sky. As would be expected for a student of Crystal Prep, she lived in a large house and had wealthy parents. Sky walked up the front steps and rang the doorbell. Sugarcoat answered the door.

"Good to see you're here, Sky." she said. "You should come in. My parents really want to see you!"

"Of course!" Sky agreed. He hadn't seen his Uncle Silver and Aunt Vanilla since the previous summer.

Sky entered the house and was greeted by Sugarcoat's parents. "It's so good to see you, Sky!" Vanilla Creme said as she hugged her nephew. "It seems like you've gotten taller since I last saw you."

"Well, yeah, I think I grew an inch since last summer." Sky chuckled. "I'm 5'7"."

Silver Bullet shook Sky's hand. "Welcome back, Sky. How's Canterlot so far?"

"It's been great!" Sky replied. "I'm doing well at my new school, and I have a lot of friends now."

"Fantastic!" said Silver.

"Even if you're not going to Crystal Prep, it's great that you're in the same city as us." Vanilla added.

"Definitely." Sky agreed.

"Sky and I are going to go take a walk along the waterfront." said Sugarcoat. "We should be back around eight."

"All right. Stay safe out there!" Silver called as his daughter and nephew headed out into the evening. Sky waved goodbye to his aunt and uncle as he left.

"Anyway, how have things been at CPA this week?" Sky asked Sugarcoat as they walked toward the docks. "I heard Principal Cinch got fired after the Games."

"Technically, she resigned before they could fire her, but yeah." Sugarcoat replied. "I'm glad to see her go."

"Me too." Sky agreed. "I saw how she acted when that whole incident with the magic happened. She clearly didn't care about anyone's safety but her own."

"Exactly." said Sugarcoat. "It's shocking that someone that selfish and incompetent was allowed to be principal of such a prestigious school."

"Who's your new principal?" Sky asked.

"Dean Cadance." Sugarcoat replied. "She's only had the job for three days and I already like her way better."

"Yeah, I saw her at the Games. She seems really nice." said Sky.

"Which she absolutely is." said Sugarcoat. "I bet the rest of this school year will be a blast."

Sky nodded. "I hope so, for both of us."

"Anyway, I thought I'd mention something that happened a while ago." said Sugarcoat. "Back in October, there was a girl who got kicked out of Crystal Prep for harassing some other students on SnapGab. Several students saw her posts and reported her to Cinch."

Sky thought for a moment. "So you're saying that if I catch Noteworthy, I could get him kicked out of CHS?"

"Precisely." said Sugarcoat. "You could get him suspended, at least."

"Oh, wouldn't that be great!" Sky laughed. "Just wondering, what's this girl's name?"

"Well, you wouldn't know her, since she doesn't live in Canterlot anymore." said Sugarcoat. "Her name's White Flower."

"Hmm, not a terribly creative name." Sky remarked. Then he paused.

I got with her as soon as I got bored with White Flower, my previous lover from Crystal Prep.

"Wait a minute... that's the same name from Noteworthy's fake post about me!" Sky exclaimed.

"You're right!" Sugarcoat agreed. "He must have seen White Flower's posts and decided to use her name in his own post. I guess he figured that if he was painting you as a cyberbully, he'd make you look even worse by claiming you dated another cyberbully."

"That's exactly what I'm thinking." said Sky. "The question is how do we expose him once we catch him?"

"That's a difficult question." said Sugarcoat. She thought for a moment. "I guess you could -"

But before she could finish, a bright white light shone out from behind a stack of wooden crates. "What the hell is that?!" Sky cried. The light was shining right in his eyes.

"It looks like... I think someone's photographing us!" Sugarcoat exclaimed. She and Sky ran toward the stack of crates, but then they saw a figure holding a cell phone running the other way.

"To hell with it! Let's go after them!" Sky ordered. He took off down the street, and Sugarcoat followed.

Both Sky and Sugarcoat were fast runners. After all, Sky had run cross country and track since eighth grade, and Sugarcoat didn't get into the Friendship Games by being slow. They gained on the figure rapidly, and Sky thought he had a pretty good idea of who he was chasing.

Eventually, Sky was all over the back of the figure as they raced along the waterfront, with Sugarcoat not far behind. The figure suddenly took a sharp left into a nearby park, briefly pulling away from Sky again. But Sky sprinted forward, grabbed onto the figure's shoulders, and tackled them straight onto the grass. A cell phone went flying out of the figure's hand and landed with its screen facing up.

The person who Sky had tackled looked up, their right cheek stained with grass. It was Noteworthy.

"Well, well, well. Why am I not surprised?" Sky said in a sarcastic tone as Sugarcoat arrived on the scene. "Now why the f*ck were you taking a picture of me and my cousin? What were you going to do, post it on that fake account where you pretend to be me?"

Noteworthy remained silent, unable to think of anything to say in response to Sky's very pointed question. He just lay on the ground, glaring up at Sky.

While Sky held Noteworthy down, Sugarcoat walked over and picked up Noteworthy's phone. She then showed it to Sky. Sure enough, Noteworthy was logged into SnapGab as TheRealSkyScraper1. He had been about to post a picture of Sky and Sugarcoat walking on the waterfront together. "Do you care to explain this?" Sugarcoat demanded as she shoved the phone in Noteworthy's face.

"Let me put it this way." said Sky. "If you delete this picture and never post anything on this account again, we'll let you go. But if you don't, then me and my cousin will have no choice but to seriously f*ck you up, because what you've been doing is downright despicable."

Noteworthy continued to glare at Sky. Then, to the shock of both Sky and Sugarcoat, he began tearing up. "I'm sorry!" he sobbed. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen!"

"Then why did you impersonate and slander me online in the first place?!" Sky barked. "If you can recall, this whole thing started because of a badminton game in gym class. A single trivial game that doesn't mean anything in the long run!"

"Just let me explain!" Noteworthy cried. "You know Bleeding Gums, the jazz musician?"

"Yeah. What about him?" Sky grunted.

"He's my older brother." Noteworthy explained through tears. "All my life, my parents have done nothing but compare me to him. And why wouldn't they? He's rich and famous, and I'm just a nobody with no special talent of his own. Yeah, I play the saxophone, but I'll never be as good as my brother. The only other thing I'm actually kind of good at is badminton. I've been playing it since I was ten, and I've won a lot of games, but my parents don't care. To them, and probably to everyone else, I'm just a useless knockoff of Bleeding Gums. That's why I was so excited when we started playing badminton in gym class. It was the first time all year that I could actually be the best at something. But then... I was put up against you, and I was humiliated!"

Sky wasn't really sure what to say. He hadn't expected Noteworthy to suddenly start spilling his guts to him. "Well, that was your own fault for getting so angry during that game!" Sky finally said. "And if you want people to appreciate you, then you could try not being an arrogant prick to everyone you meet!"

"I know." Noteworthy muttered. "The truth is, I hate myself. I always have. When I lost that badminton game, I just couldn't let it go. I was mad at myself for losing... and I took it all out on you." He sighed. "I'm so sorry for everything I've done, Sky. Neither you nor Lyra deserved any of it."

"Well, if you're truly sorry, then you can post an apology on SnapGab, so that everyone knows." said Sugarcoat. She handed Noteworthy's phone back to him. "Here, take your phone. I don't want it anyway, it's an outdated model."

Noteworthy nodded. He took his phone back, and Sky got off of him. Noteworthy then stood up and ran off. He didn't look back at Sky or Sugarcoat, and eventually he disappeared from view.

"Well, that was unexpected." Sky remarked. After Noteworthy's tearful confession, he didn't know what to think. Neither did Sugarcoat.

"Indeed." Sugarcoat agreed. "Let's just keep walking. It's not even half past seven yet." She began heading out of the park, and Sky followed. As Sky walked along, he wondered what Noteworthy was going to do next. Would he publicly apologize for his actions, or would he make another hateful post? Regardless, Sky knew that the next day was going to be strange.

When Sky walked up to Canterlot High on Thursday morning, he felt rather awkward. He had no idea how his classmates were going to treat him. It all depended on whether Noteworthy had done what Sugarcoat had told him to do.

Sky opened the doors and entered the building, bracing himself for the worst. He was walking gingerly through the main atrium when someone hugged him from behind. Sky was startled, and turned around to see who had grabbed onto him. "Lyra!" he exclaimed with delight.

"Oh, Sky! I'm so sorry!" Lyra cried as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I should have known you'd never say such horrible things about me!"

"It's all right, Lyra." Sky said with a smile. "I mean, it wasn't you who posted that. But how did you find out that I was innocent?"

"It was pretty simple." said Bon Bon, who was standing next to Lyra. "Noteworthy posted an apology video on that account. He also deleted his post about Lyra."

Sky was pleasantly surprised. "So he did as Sugar said."

"What do you mean?" Lyra asked.

"It's a pretty crazy story." Sky chuckled. And he told the full story of all that had happened the day before.

"Wow!" Lyra remarked once Sky had finished his story. "Yesterday sure was crazy. But at least things are back to normal now."

"Yep! To be honest, I think we all should have suspected Noteworthy from the start." said Bon Bon.

"Indeed." said Sky. "At least I know he won't be bothering me anymore. I'm not sure what I'll say to him the next time I see him."

"You can cross that bridge when you come to it." said Lyra.

"Of course." said Sky. "And just so you know, I've had a SnapGab account for about a year now, but I've never used it." He pulled out his phone, opened the SnapGab app and pointed to the username "SkyScraper39" in the upper right corner.

"That's awesome!" said Lyra. "How about we take a picture together and you can post it right now!"

"Sure thing!" said Sky. He held up his phone, and he and Lyra took their first selfie together. Then he uploaded it to SnapGab, with a simple description:

Me and Lyra

And yes, this is the real Sky 😉

Chapter 11: Home Alone with You

Over the next few days, word of Noteworthy's actions spread quickly, and at some point, the story reached Principal Celestia. According to Flitter, Noteworthy was suspended from school for three weeks, a punishment that Sky thought was well-deserved. The following week passed by fairly quickly, and soon April vacation had begun.

That Friday evening, Sky's parents had gone to dinner in Manebridge with some friends of theirs, which left Sky on his own. Since he hadn't had Indian food in a while, and he figured it wouldn't take him very long to get there, he decided to go to The Tasty Treat, a restaurant located just a few blocks away in downtown Canterlot. He'd never been there before, but Emerald had recommended it to him, so he figured he'd try it.

Sky rode the elevator down to the lobby and took his usual route past Canterlot High and into the town center. The Tasty Treat was actually right across the street from the Sweet Shoppe, so he had no trouble at all finding it. He walked in, sat down at one of the tables, and was greeted by a young woman with dark purple hair. "Hi! I'm Saffron Masala, the chef here at The Tasty Treat." she said as she handed Sky a menu. "What can I cook for you today?"

Sky looked over the menu. "I'll have the butter chicken and a mango lassi."

"Of course! I'll be right back." Saffron hurried back into the kitchen to cook Sky's dinner. As Sky waited, the door of the restaurant opened and two familiar faces strode in. One of them turned in Sky's direction. "Is that who I think it is?" he called.

Sky immediately recognized Party Favor's voice. "Party! Double!" he called. "How you been?"

"Good to see you again, Sky!" Party said as he and Double Diamond sat down at the table next to Sky.

"This past week was great." said Double. "You know why?"

"Why?" Sky asked.

"Starlight Glimmer got expelled." Double replied.

"Really?" Sky exclaimed. "What happened?"

"The school administration finally grew a pair and decided to do something about the bullying problem." Party explained. "They realized that she'd been terrorizing pretty much the entire grade for years, so they kicked her out."

"That's awesome!" said Sky. "I guess you won't have to deal with her ever again."

"Nope!" said Double. "Anyway, how's Canterlot? You haven't texted us or anything since you left Manebridge."

"Canterlot is better than Manebridge in every way." said Sky. "I've made a lot of new friends in the two months I've been here, and I've been going out with a girl..."

Party and Double perked up. "Ooh, who's the lucky lady?" Party asked.

Sky pulled out his phone and showed his friends the selfie that he'd taken with Lyra the week before. "Her name's Lyra Heartstrings." he said, blushing a bit. "She's the prettiest and sweetest girl in the world."

"That's amazing!" said Party. "You definitely have good taste. Of course, I'm still single as a Pringle, at least for now."

"While we're still on this topic... you know those three girls who follow Feather Bangs around?" Double asked.

"Yeah." said Sky. "What about them?"

"I went on a date with Dear Darling last weekend." Double replied.

"Dear Darling? Which one of the three is that?" Sky knew who Feather Bangs' trio of fangirls were, but he had difficulty telling which one was which because he'd almost never seen them apart.

"She has blonde hair with a green bow." Double explained. "Anyway, I asked her out because Night Glider bet me a hundred bucks that I wouldn't. So I asked her out, and she actually said yes. We went to the Manebridge Mall together, and we actually had a lot of fun. I think I'll call her when I get home, and see if she wants to hang out again this weekend."

"You and Dear Darling, eh?" Sky chuckled. "Now there's an odd couple if I've ever seen one..." Party nodded in agreement.

"Well, she's actually really nice once you get to know her." said Double. "Plus I got a hundred bucks from Night Glider."

Party turned to Sky. "So how did you and Lyra meet?"

"She and her best friend Bon Bon, whom she's known since kindergarten, gave me a tour of Canterlot High before my first day. Lyra and I really liked each other right away, and we just progressed from there." Sky recounted. "I asked her out a couple weeks ago, and we spent an amazing night at the Canterlot Mall. I also went out with her last Friday and this past Wednesday."

"That sounds great!" said Party.

"Oh, it has been!" Sky agreed. "Honestly, things have never been better since I came here."

Just then, Saffron returned with Sky's dinner and set it down on the table. She then introduced herself to Party and Double, and after handing them menus, took down their orders and headed back to the kitchen.

"So, what brought you guys to Canterlot this evening?" Sky asked as he dug into his bowl of butter chicken.

"We just wanted to go someplace different, since we hadn't been here in a while." Double replied. Then he laughed. "We probably should have told you we were coming."

"That's all right." said Sky. "At least we ran into each other here."

Party smiled. "Funny how things work out sometimes."

For the next half hour, the three old friends continued catching up with each other, as although it had only been a couple of months since Sky moved, quite a bit had happened in that period of time. When they had all finished their dinners, they paid for the food and headed out the door.

"It was great seeing you again, Sky." said Double.

Sky nodded. "You too. I'll try to text you more often from now on."

"Yeah, we should make plans to hang out again sometime." said Party. "Of course, only when you're not with Lyra."

"Don't worry, I'll always save time for my boys from Manebridge." Sky chuckled.

Party and Double smiled and waved goodbye as they headed toward the train station to catch the next northbound train to Manebridge. Sky turned in the opposite direction and began walking back to his apartment. He was glad that even though he'd made a lot of new friends during the past two months, he hadn't lost touch with his old ones.

On Sunday morning, Sky was home alone again, as his parents had gone to the movie theater to see a film he had no interest in. Since he hadn't gotten a chance to yesterday, he decided to give Lyra a call. He speed-dialed her and it wasn't long before she picked up. "Hey, Sky!" said Lyra. "What's up?"

"Not a whole lot." Sky chuckled. "I'm just home alone right now because my parents went to see a movie."

"I'm home alone too!" Lyra replied. "Want to come over to my place?"

"Of course!" said Sky. "I think I remember where it is."

"One thing though." said Lyra. "I'm still in my PJs right now - I should probably change before you come over."

"Oh, I don't mind." Sky laughed. "You don't have to. I'll be right over!" Sky hung up and put his phone in his pocket. He grabbed a sticky note off the kitchen counter and wrote "Went to Lyra's house" on it, in case his parents got back home before he did. He stuck the note on the door, then headed out.

Lyra's house wasn't exactly close to Sky's apartment building. To get there, Sky had to take a somewhat long route past the Canterlot Mall, where he and Lyra had had their first date two weeks ago. He was remembering that night fondly as he walked down the street on this quiet Sunday morning. He was looking forward to visiting Lyra's house for the first time, as well as seeing what Lyra wore to bed.

Eventually, Sky arrived at the light green two-story house that he'd walked Lyra home to on the night of their first date. He walked up the front steps and rang the doorbell. Almost immediately, Lyra opened the door. "Hi again!" she giggled. "Come on in!" She took Sky by the hand and gently pulled him inside.

Lyra was wearing light pink pajama bottoms with red hearts, and a loose red T-shirt with a lyre on it. Sky followed her into her living room, still holding her hand and glancing down to admire the cute pair of pants that she was wearing. He then looked around the expansive living room. Lyra's house was definitely much fancier than his apartment. "Wow, Lyra, this is really nice!" he remarked.

Lyra smiled. "Well, I made sure to tidy it up before you got here. I should probably show you around, since you've never been here before."

"Of course!" Sky replied. "That'd be great!"

For the next several minutes, Lyra led Sky through every room of her house. Sky was very grateful for this, because he hoped that Lyra would invite him over more than once. The house was neater than Sky had expected it to be, and he felt honored that Lyra would tidy it up just for him.

"Do you want to see my room?" Lyra eventually asked. "I was saving it for last."

"I'd love to!" Sky replied, his excitement building up. Apart from Sugarcoat, he'd never been invited into a girl's room before. He followed Lyra into her room and looked around. Lyra's bookshelf was filled with books from the "My Little Unicorn" series, as well as various mythology books. A life-sized unicorn plushie sat next to her bed, and a shiny golden lyre stood propped up on her dresser.

Lyra sat down on her bed and invited Sky to sit down next to her. "You probably noticed that I have a lot of MLU stuff." Lyra laughed.

"Yeah, I did." said Sky. "I guess you're a big fan of that series?"

"Oh, I am!" Lyra replied. "I've seen every episode of the show and read every book! I was actually in the middle of the most recent book when you called me."

"How long have you been a fan?" Sky asked.

"Pretty much ever since it premiered about eight years ago. I was in second grade at the time. It's hard to believe it's gone on for so long."

"I remember watching it with Sugarcoat when we were around that same age," Sky remarked, "although I can't say I've seen any of it recently."

"Yeah, almost all the girls were into it back then." Lyra went on. "Most of them eventually grew out of it, but I never did." She sighed. "Middle school sucked for me. Everyone just thought of me as that weird girl who still liked unicorns. Bon Bon was pretty much my only friend during those years."

Sky put an arm around Lyra and nuzzled her hair, causing Lyra to giggle. "Don't dwell on things like that, Lyra." he said kindly. "If someone isn't willing to accept you for who you are, then they're not worth your time."

Lyra blushed. "Aw, Sky... you're so sweet." She wrapped Sky in a gentle hug and ran her hand through his hair, causing Sky to blush violently. When she let go, she went to her dresser and picked up her lyre. "Want to hear me play?" she asked.

"That would be wonderful..." Sky said as he gazed dreamily at Lyra. She looked absolutely adorable in her pajamas, and as Sky had noticed when he nuzzled her hair, she smelled incredibly good. Her hair had a very sweet minty scent to it, one that made Sky want to bury his face in her hair and sniff it all day.

Lyra sat back down next to Sky. "I composed this song myself about a year ago." she said with a smile. "I think you'll like it." She then began playing her lyre. The music that she produced was the most beautiful thing Sky had ever heard in his life, and it was being played by the most beautiful girl he had ever met. As she ran her fingers over the golden strings, Lyra winked at Sky, then gently closed her eyes as she continued to play. Sky found himself getting lost in the music, becoming more and more enamored of Lyra with every note she played. Soon, he too closed his eyes and laid his head in Lyra's lap. Her pants were soft, warm and very fluffy, and smelled just as lovely as her hair. Sky felt as though he was in heaven, with his head resting in Lyra's thighs and her music gently flowing through the air above him. Both Sky and Lyra felt their hearts beating faster, and Lyra struggled to keep a straight face with Sky nuzzling her lower body. Sky's nose between her legs both tickled and aroused her.

Eventually, Lyra finished playing the amazing song that she'd written. She set down her lyre and gave Sky a gentle pet on the head. "How did my song sound from down there?" she asked in a playful tone.

Sky looked up at Lyra and blinked a few times. "It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard, played by the most beautiful girl I've ever met."

Lyra blushed and looked at Sky seductively. She laid down and pat the soft mint green blanket. "Come here, Sky..." she whispered.

Sky laid down next to Lyra, incredibly nervous and incredibly excited at the same time. "It's just the two of us in here..." he giggled quietly.

Lyra nodded. "Yes. I'm home alone with you. And it's just as wonderful as I imagined it."

Sky gasped. He couldn't believe where this was going. "Do... do you mean..."

"Mm-hmm..." Lyra moved closer to Sky. "I've wanted to do this for quite a while..."

Without even thinking, Sky closed his eyes and slowly shifted toward Lyra. He felt Lyra's soft hands around his neck, and then it happened. Sky felt a rush of warmth through his cheeks as for the first time, Lyra's lips met his.

All Sky could hear was the sound of his heart beating with sheer pleasure and joy, and all Sky could see was a vision in his mind of Lyra's beautiful golden eyes twinkling. He wrapped his arms around her body and gently rested his hands on her rear, pulling her in even closer to him. He continued exploring Lyra's lips with his own, savoring every second of this glorious moment. The feelings he was experiencing right now were unlike anything he had ever felt before. He moved one hand to run it through Lyra's lush hair, and she responded by caressing both sides of Sky's face. With his other hand, Sky gently rubbed Lyra's inner thigh, causing her to moan with pleasure. After what seemed like forever, their lips slowly parted and they gazed into each other's eyes.

Sky opened his mouth to whisper. "That... that was..."

"Amazing." Lyra finished. "We did it. Our first kiss."

"You know, that was my first kiss ever." said Sky.

"Mine too." said Lyra. "You're the only guy I've ever felt this way about."

Just then, Lyra and Sky heard the front door opening. Sky suddenly became nervous. "Well... it sounds like your parents are back." he said. "What should I do?"

Lyra put her arms around Sky again. "They don't bite! Just act normal. I'll introduce you to them." She got up from her bed and led Sky downstairs.

Lyra's parents were standing in the kitchen. Sky really hoped that he wouldn't make a bad first impression on them. He tended to get somewhat nervous around new people, and overthink things as a result.

"Hi, Mom and Dad." Lyra said as she entered the kitchen, holding Sky's hand.

Lyra's father turned around. "Hello, Lyra!" he said. He then noticed Sky. "Who is this?" he asked.

Sky took that as his cue to say the introduction that he had been repeating in his head. "I'm Sky Scraper. Lyra invited me over while you were gone, that's all." He scratched the back of his head. "It's... nice to meet you both."

"Oh, so you're Sky!" Lyra's mother remarked. "Lyra's talked about you a lot recently!" Then she raised one eyebrow. "Lyra... you invited Sky over and didn't even bother to get changed?"

"Oh, come on, Mom!" Lyra laughed. "It's not like this is the first time I've ever hung out with Sky! Plus, he said he didn't mind." Lyra nudged Sky, and Sky nodded in agreement.

"Well, in any case, it's good to finally meet you in person." said Lyra's mother. "My name's Spearmint Tea."

"And I'm Orpheus Heartstrings." said Lyra's father. "But you can just call me Orpheus."

"Once again, a pleasure meeting both of you." Sky chuckled as he and Orpheus exchanged a firm handshake. So far, his first time meeting Lyra's parents had gone better than he had expected.

"So you moved to Canterlot in February?" Orpheus asked.

"That's right." said Sky. "Lyra and her friend Bon Bon showed me around the high school before my first day."

"What do you think of CHS so far?" Spearmint asked.

"Everything's been going really well." Sky replied. "All of my grades are good, and I've made a lot of friends. Canterlot is an amazing city." He then noticed the symbol on Orpheus' shirt pocket. It was another lyre, but had a slightly different shape than Lyra's necklace. "Do you play the lyre too?" he asked.

"Yes indeed!" Orpheus replied. "I taught Lyra how to play it when she was just six years old."

Sky grinned. "Well, clearly you've taught her very well." Lyra blushed and smiled modestly, still holding Sky's hand.

Orpheus turned to his daughter. "So you've played for him?"

Lyra nodded. "Yep! Today, actually. I played him one of my original songs."

"It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life." Sky added.

"Which one?" Orpheus asked.

"'Sweet Summer Angels'." Lyra replied. "That's probably the best one I've done."

"That's definitely a good one." said Orpheus. "It captures your personality very well."

Sky chuckled. "That must be why I liked it so much." He then glanced up at the clock and saw that it was almost twelve. "Wow, it's almost noon already? I'd love to stay a while, but I should probably go home soon."

"Actually, it'd be nice if you could stay for lunch." said Spearmint. "We'd love to get to know you better."

"Oh, sure!" said Sky. "What were you planning to have for lunch?"

"We were just going to order some Chinese take-out, that's all." Orpheus replied.

"You can count me in on that!" Sky exclaimed. He was never one to refuse sweet and sour chicken. He pulled out his phone and texted his mom about his plans. His mom replied that it was all right.

"I'd better get changed before the food gets here!" Lyra laughed. She kissed Sky on the cheek one more time, then ran upstairs to her room to change out of her pajamas and into her day clothes.

Sky greatly enjoyed having lunch at Lyra's house. Her parents seemed to have taken a liking to him already, which meant that one of the biggest hurdles in any new relationship was out of the way, at least for the time being. For a long time afterwards, this Sunday would stand as the best day of Sky's life. It was the day that he experienced the joy of his first kiss, and officially became Lyra's boyfriend.

Author's Note

All aboard the SS Skyra! The ship has set sail!

Chapter 12: Night at Apartment 17

On Thursday evening, Sky sat on the couch in his apartment. While Evening Shade was busy preparing dinner, Sky and Air Raider had flipped through the TV channels and found the original Johnny English movie, one of Sky's favorites.

"Of course, he landed on the wrong building!" Sky laughed. "This part never gets old!"

"It does not!" Air agreed.

Just then, Sky's phone began ringing, and he picked it up. It was Lyra. "Hey, babe..." Sky said with a sweet inflection.

"Hey, Sky!" said Lyra on the other end. "Guess who's back from Manehattan?" Lyra and her parents had driven down to Manehattan on Monday morning, to visit her sister Minty.

"Awesome!" said Sky. "How was it?"

"It was so nice." Lyra replied. "Minty was really excited when I told her about you. She said she wants to meet you when she comes home this summer."

"Great! I'd be happy to meet her, too. Is she more of a cool big sister or a protective big sister?"

"No need to worry about her, Sky. She's pretty chill, as long as you don't test her patience."

"Well, that's good." Sky chuckled. "What else did you do in Manehattan?"

"On the warmest day, we went up to the top of the Statue of Liberty." said Lyra. "The window at the top was kind of small, but we could still see the whole harbor from it. You would have loved it!"

"That sounds pretty great to me!" Sky agreed. "Going up there is definitely on my bucket list! Especially if we went up together."

"I was thinking the same thing!" Lyra giggled. "Anyway, what'd you do this week while I was gone?"

"I went to the beach with Sugarcoat on Wednesday." Sky replied. "We do that every April vacation."

"That must have been fun!" said Lyra. "Which beach did you go to?"

"We just went to Canterlot Beach." said Sky. "Although sometimes we go to Mistmane Beach. It's bigger than Canterlot Beach and it's on the North Shore."

"Oh, I love that beach!" Lyra exclaimed. "My parents actually own a beach house near there!"

"Really? That sounds amazing! I've always wanted to have a beach house myself. How often do you go there?"

"Usually we go for a week or two every summer. If my parents let me, I'll totally invite you to come with us!"

"Oh gosh, that would be a dream come true for me!" Sky burst out, with a big grin on his face.

"Guys, dinner's ready!" Evening called from the kitchen.

"Okay, I'll be right there!" Air said as he got up from the couch.

"Anyway, I'm about to have dinner, so I'll talk to you later." Sky said over the phone. "I love you, Lyra!" Sky blushed as he said those words.

"I love you too, Sky!" Lyra replied with a giggle. "See you later!" Lyra hung up, and Sky put down the phone and headed into the kitchen.

"I guess you were on the phone with your girlfriend?" Air asked Sky at the dinner table.

"Yep." said Sky. "Lyra was in Manehattan for the last few days, but now she's back in town."

"You know, I'm really proud of you, son." Air went on. "You've got your first girlfriend at a much younger age than me."

"Speaking of Lyra, I'd like to meet her one of these days." said Evening. "I want to get to know the girl that my son is dating."

"Sure thing, Mom." said Sky. "Do you want me to invite her to dinner one of these days?"

"That would be nice." said Evening. "But you'll have to be the one to make arrangements with her."

"Of course." Sky agreed. "I could even invite her for Saturday night, since we won't be busy that day."

"Isn't there going to be a storm that night?" Air asked.

"I thought there would be, but the weather forecast now says it's going to stay west of here." Evening replied. She turned to her son. "So yes, Sky, that would work."

"Great!" said Sky. "I'll call Lyra back after dinner and see what she thinks."

After finishing his dinner, Sky took his phone and headed back to his room to call Lyra again. He speed-dialed her and she picked up immediately. "Hi again, Sky!" she giggled. "Couldn't resist calling your girl back?"

"Why would I resist calling the most beautiful girl ever?" Sky laughed.

This elicited another flattered giggle from Lyra. "Sky, you are such a sweetie!"

"I try to be the best guy I can." Sky said modestly. "Especially for you, Lyra. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner at my apartment on Saturday night? I mean, I've already met your parents, so it'd be good if you could meet mine."

Lyra thought for a moment. "Of course, Sky! That would be perfect! I won't be busy that night, and that storm isn't going to come through here anyway."

Sky smiled. "Fantastic!"

Sky and Lyra ended up taking to each other long into the night, sharing funny stories and fluffing each other up with sweet compliments. Sky eventually had to hang up because Evening demanded that he take a shower and go to bed. As Sky went to bed that night, he looked forward to Saturday, and hoped that it would go just as well as his first meeting with Lyra's parents.

At six o'clock on Saturday evening, Spearmint Tea pulled up in front of Sky's apartment building to drop Lyra off. "This is Sky's building, right?" Spearmint asked.

Lyra got out of the car and looked at the address above the front door. "Yep, this is it." She looked up at the shiny glass facade, twelve stories high. "It's a really nice building."

"It is." Spearmint agreed. "It almost looks like an office building, even though it's residential."

"It kind of does." Lyra chuckled.

Spearmint said goodbye to her daughter and began driving back home. Lyra walked under the awning and through the doors of the Somnambula Building.

Lyra had never set foot in Sky's building before, and when she entered, she was very impressed by the high ceilings and bright lighting of the lobby. Wow... this building is even nicer on the inside!, she thought to herself. If the lobby was anything to go by, Sky's apartment was very impressive indeed.

On the wall next to the elevator, Lyra spotted a floor directory that listed which apartments were on which floor. She pushed the button for the elevator and looked over the floor directory to find the number 17. Seeing that Sky's apartment was located on the ninth floor, she got into the elevator and pushed the number nine button.

The elevator rose quickly up to the ninth floor, and when Lyra got out, she found herself in a hallway with high ceilings and two silver doors, one on each side. The door on the left was numbered 17, and the door on the right was numbered 18. There was also a stairway and a large glass window at the end. Lyra went to the door on the left and rang the bell.

Within a few seconds, Sky answered the door. "Lyra!" he exclaimed, giving his girlfriend a big hug. "Come on in!" He gave Lyra a kiss on the cheek before leading her into his apartment.

Evening and Air were both in the kitchen when Lyra came in. "You must be Lyra!" Evening said. "I'm Sky's mom, Evening Shade."

"And I'm Sky's dad, Air Raider." said Air.

"It's really nice to meet both of you." Lyra said with a smile. "How much does Sky talk to you about me?"

"He doesn't tell us much about school, but when he does, you're always the first person he mentions." Evening explained. "He made it obvious how much he liked you. He's never been good at hiding his feelings."

Sky blushed and rolled his eyes. Lyra giggled knowingly.

"Anyway, what's for dinner?" Lyra asked.

"I'm making my homemade lasagna." Evening replied. "It's one of Sky's favorites, so I'm sure you'll like it too."

"Sounds delicious!" Lyra remarked.

"My mom's a really great chef." said Sky. "There aren't too many things she can't cook."

"There were so many things I wouldn't eat, before I met her." Air agreed.

"The lasagna won't be ready for another half an hour, so feel free to hang around with each other until then." said Evening.

"Great! Thank you." said Lyra. She looked around the apartment. "Your apartment is amazing!" she commented. "Everything is so big and shiny and modern!"

"It sure is." said Air. "That's why we picked it. As soon as I got a job in Canterlot, we found this apartment and signed a lease immediately."

"This place is a huge upgrade from our old apartment in Manebridge." said Sky. "It's by far the best place I've ever lived. It's so much bigger and it has an awesome balcony too." He pointed to the tall glass door to the balcony at the end of the living room.

"Let's go out there!" Lyra suggested to Sky with a grin.

"Of course." said Evening. "I'll call you back in when dinner's ready."

"Sounds good." said Sky. He opened the glass door, and he and Lyra went out onto the balcony and sat down on the cushioned bench.

All balconies on the Somnambula Building came with a fantastic view. Odd-numbered apartments such as Sky's apartment overlooked the suburbs and the rolling hills far away. Even-numbered apartments had a view of the city and the ocean beyond.

"Wow..." Lyra began, as she looked out at the expanse of the suburbs down below. "This view is amazing!"

Sky smiled. "I knew you'd love it. You can see half of Canterlot from here. Can you see your house?"

"Probably, but there's no way I'd be able to pick it out from here." Lyra laughed.

"You know, there's actually a really nice symmetry between my building and the cliff at the park." Sky said thoughtfully. "From this side of the building, you can see the suburban half of Canterlot. From the other side of the building, you can see the urban half of Canterlot. And from the cliff at the park..."

"...you can see all of Canterlot at once." Lyra finished. "That's really interesting. I didn't think of that." She leaned against Sky. "I could sit out here with you forever."

Sky smiled warmly. "Me too, Lyra. Me too." He and Lyra leaned in toward each other, and their lips met for the second time.

Air watched Sky and Lyra's kiss from inside the apartment. "Oh boy, now I really feel old." he said to himself. Nevertheless, he was happy for his son.

Evening opened the door to the balcony. "All right, you two, the lasagna's ready."

"Great! We'll be right there!" Sky replied. He and Lyra got up from the bench and came back inside, still holding hands.

After getting glasses of orange juice from the refrigerator, Sky and Lyra sat down at the dinner table with Evening and Air, and it wasn't long before they each dug into their slice of lasagna.

"This lasagna is really good!" Lyra said to Evening.

Evening smiled. "Thank you! I'm glad you like it."

"So, how long have you and Sky liked each other?" Air asked.

Lyra blushed lightly. "To be honest, I could tell Sky liked me as soon as I met him." Sky blushed and nodded to confirm that.

"I'd never really had a real crush up to that point, but I knew I wanted to get to know Sky as at least a friend." Lyra continued. "He seemed pretty cool and funny, and he saved me from falling after I slipped in a puddle."

"When did you start to like him back?" Evening asked.

"When I was being harassed by another guy and he stood up for me." And Lyra explained the first incident involving Noteworthy.

"So that's what that fight was about." Air remarked. He pat Sky on the shoulder and smiled. "When that happened, I was proud of you for defending yourself. Now I'm even more proud of you for standing up for your girlfriend."

Sky smiled back. "Thanks, Dad. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing, could I?"

"Anyway, I called him the following night, just to make sure he was doing okay." said Lyra. "He told me that I was beautiful, and that gave me a feeling that I'd never felt before. No guy had ever given me such a heartfelt compliment. After that, I found myself wanting to spend more and more time with him, but my training schedule for the Friendship Games was so intense that I didn't get a chance to ask him out. I got such a wonderful surprise when he took the next step and asked me."

"And since then, things have never been better for either of us." Sky finished. He and Lyra had agreed to keep the second incident involving Noteworthy under wraps.

Air then chimed in with his own love story. He explained that throughout high school, he had always been that one nerdy guy that none of the girls really wanted. He never had a steady girlfriend until he met Evening during an office meeting at one of their old jobs. At the time, he was 32 and she was 25. Despite the age difference, they clicked with each other almost immediately. Four years later they were married, and in another four years Evening had given birth to Sky.

"That's a really nice story." Lyra said when Air had finished.

Air nodded. "It took a while, but it was definitely worth it in the end."

Lyra then began telling Sky's parents more about herself, so they would know her better. She talked about her musical talent and how she had competed in the Friendship Games the month before. But it wasn't long before the sound of raindrops could be heard falling on the big glass window.

Evening sighed. "Well, it looks like the weather forecast lied to us. Again."

It didn't end there. A flash of lightning appeared off in the distance, followed by a loud rumble of thunder.

"Ugh... this will be awful to go home in." Lyra groaned.

"Well, you're welcome to stay here until the storm passes." Evening offered. "It should be over by -"

But before Evening could finish, everyone's phones began buzzing loudly and vibrating rapidly. "What's going on?" Lyra exclaimed.

Sky ran to the living room to grab his phone. He came back and showed everyone the message that had come up on the screen:

FLASH FLOOD WARNING THIS AREA UNTIL SATURDAY 2:00 AM EST. AVOID FLOOD AREAS. CHECK LOCAL MEDIA.
-NWS

"Until two tomorrow morning?" Air exclaimed. "This is going to be rough."

"How am I supposed to get home?" Lyra asked. "I obviously can't walk, and my parents won't want to drive in this weather either."

"You can stay here for tonight!" Sky suggested enthusiastically. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I refused to share my bed with you?"

Evening thought it over. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable having an unrelated girl stay with her son overnight, but with inclement weather like this, it was probably the only safe option. "Okay, Lyra." she finally said. "You and Sky can spend the night together. Just no getting naked in front of each other or anything like that."

"Don't worry, Mom." said Sky. "We're mature enough to do this."

Evening nodded and turned to Lyra. "You should probably shower before Sky. He sometimes drifts off in the shower."

"I do not!" Sky retorted.

"Well, you did on Tuesday." Evening replied. "You were under the water for half an hour, and the steam leaked out into the hallway. That wasn't the first time that's happened, either."

Sky sighed. "All right, fine. Sometimes the warm water just feels really good."

"It sure does." Lyra agreed. She turned to Sky and put her arm around him. "I take a long time in the shower too, so you're not alone."

Evening rolled her eyes. She was well aware of the amount of time teenage girls spend in the shower, having been one herself. "Well then, I guess it doesn't matter which one of you showers first. You're both going to be hogging the bathroom for a while."

After dinner, Sky offered to take Lyra into his room, since she'd never been here before. Compared to Lyra's room, Sky's was a bit messier. Stacks of paper and books lay everywhere, on top of Sky's desk and on top of storage bins. Multiple diecast Formula One cars sat lined up on top of Sky's dresser. The dark blue blanket on his bed was in a wrinkled heap. Sky never bothered to make his bed. He didn't see the point of tucking in his blanket when he was just going to untuck it as soon as he went to sleep.

"As you can see, I've got all kinds of junk scattered around in here." Sky chuckled as he and Lyra sat down on the side of his bed. "I probably need to clean this place up soon."

"You know, I actually like a guy with a slightly messy room." said Lyra. "It shows that he's not too uptight or too serious."

Sky smiled. "Well, I'm glad you feel that way, because this is pretty much how my room has always been."

"What kind of things do you have on your desk?" Lyra asked.

"Mostly drawings I've drawn and stories I've written." Sky replied. "Do you want to see some of them?"

"I'd love to!" said Lyra.

Sky grabbed a sketchbook off of his desk and handed it to Lyra. She flipped through it and discovered many drawings of buildings and road maps, all carefully drawn with precise straight lines, and some colored in with neat and vibrant colored pencils.

"Wow... your drawings are amazing!" Lyra exclaimed. "These are the straightest lines I've ever seen anyone draw!"

"Well, I was always known for having incredibly neat handwriting." said Sky. "Virtually anyone I've ever had a class with at school has complimented it."

Lyra grinned. "So you're an amazing writer, an amazing artist, and an amazing boyfriend! I knew I picked the best guy!" She put her hands on Sky's shoulders and leaned in, and they kissed again.

After a few wonderful minutes, their lips parted, and Lyra looked over at Sky's collection of diecast cars on top of his dresser. She noticed that most of the cars all had the same number on their nosecone - the number 14.

"Yeah, I really like motor racing." Sky commented.

"I already knew that." Lyra chuckled. "I don't know much about it myself, but I'm guessing your favorite driver is number fourteen?"

"That is correct!" said Sky. "His name's Rapid Fire and he's from Spain. He's one of the older drivers in Formula One but he's still the best guy out there. He can win in pretty much any car you give him, even if it isn't the fastest. The past few years were pretty bad for him, but now that he's driving for the Ferrari team again, he has a really good chance at winning another championship. I have almost all the cars that he's driven in his career."

"That's awesome!" said Lyra. "Your collection of race car models is almost as big as my collection of unicorn books!"

"I guess it is!" Sky laughed. "We should compare them one of these days!"

"That's a great idea!" Lyra agreed. "Then we can really see who's the ultimate collector!"

Sky and Lyra continued to hang out in Sky's room until half past eight, when Sky went into the bathroom to take a shower. Since this was Sky's apartment, Lyra let him shower first. Sky took his pajamas - a big white T-shirt and a pair of light blue lounge pants - into the bathroom with him, to ensure that no one would watch him get changed. At nine o'clock, he came out of the bathroom fully clothed and dried, and found Lyra in the living room taking to Evening and Air. "The bathroom's all yours." he said to Lyra.

"Thank you!" Lyra replied. "Although I don't have my pajamas to change into afterward."

"Hang on." said Sky. He hurried off to his room and came back holding a second white T-shirt and a pair of light green lounge pants. "You can borrow these for tonight. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I never let you borrow my clothes?"

Lyra smiled. "Thanks, Sky!" She took Sky's spare pajama set and headed to the bathroom to take her shower. When she came out at nine-thirty, she found Sky waiting for her in his room.

Sky's pajamas were kind of big for Lyra, but he thought she looked really cute in them. He lifted up the blanket, and she laid down in bed next to him.

"This night just keeps getting better and better." she sighed happily.

Sky smiled and nodded in agreement. "There's nothing quite like laying in bed with the one you love, is there?"

"Indeed there isn't." Lyra said softly. She wrapped her arms around Sky and snuggled up next to him. Sky looked down and kissed her forehead. Lyra blushed and rolled herself over so that she was on top of Sky. Then they closed their eyes and for the first time, Sky and Lyra made out, rolling themselves up in the blanket together and exploring each other's lips with their tongues. As they did so, they both moaned gently with pure pleasure. Sky moved both of his hands through Lyra's soft minty hair, and Lyra used her hands to feel up Sky's neck. When their lips parted after ten passionate minutes, a very warm Sky let out a yawn.

"It's getting kind of late." Sky said. "I'm about ready to drop off for tonight."

"Me too." said Lyra. She giggled quietly. "Let's get some sleep. Just you and me. Together."

"Sounds wonderful to me." Sky agreed. He yawned again and turned off the lamp next to his bed. Before long, he and Lyra were sleeping together peacefully, with Lyra curled up in Sky's arms and Sky's face buried in Lyra's hair. Neither of them had ever felt safer or more deeply in love than on this stormy April night.

Author's Note

This will be my last chapter of 2019, so I hope you all enjoyed it!

A couple of things to note: Air and Evening's love story is more or less my IRL parents' story, and Rapid Fire is obviously meant to be the EQG world's Fernando Alonso.

Chapter 13: The Spring Fling Fiasco, Part I

On the first day back from April vacation, Sky decided to sit at Lyra's lunch table instead of his usual one. The table was at the opposite end of the cafeteria, so he had to walk considerably further than he normally did. When he got there and sat down, Lyra and Bon Bon were nowhere to be seen. Octavia, Vinyl Scratch and Derpy were nonetheless pleasantly surprised to see Sky.

"Hi, Sky!" Derpy said with a grin. "It's so good to see you!"

"You too, Derpy!" said Sky. "Speaking of which, where's Lyra? I haven't seen her all morning."

"Her teacher probably let her out a few minutes late." Octavia replied. "You know how it is." Vinyl nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Trixie arrived and sat down next to Sky. "Apologies for being late." she said in an annoyed tone. "The Great and Powerful Trixie was waylaid by an eighth grader who spilled a Coke in the hallway."

"Clumsy freshman!" Sky laughed. "I guess you had to take the long way round?"

"Indeed I did!" Trixie fumed. "I always knew it was a bad idea to make this a five-year school. Trixie is too great and too powerful to be stuck in the same building as such immature rookies!"

Sky found Trixie very amusing. She had an incredibly grandiose view of herself, and probably said more words in a day than Sky said in a week. Group conversations never failed to entertain when Trixie was involved.

"Yesterday, Lyra told me she had a big announcement planned for today." said Sky. "But she wouldn't tell me what it was."

"It could be a special surprise just for you." Octavia suggested. "You are her boyfriend, after all. Every time I texted her last week, she wouldn't stop talking about how wonderful you are."

"For the past month or so, really." added Trixie.

"Well,if you ask any of my friends, they'll tell you I've been talking nonstop about Lyra too." said Sky. "Ever since our first kiss last Sunday, everything has been just perfect. I've honestly never felt happier."

"Lyra feels just the same way." said Octavia. "And with the Spring Fling coming up in a few weeks, I'm sure your bond will only continue to grow."

"Now that you mention it, I wonder if that's what Lyra's big announcement is going to be about?" Sky remarked.

"Could be!" said Derpy. "She didn't tell any of us about it. Only you."

Sky smiled. "Well, I guess we'll find out when she gets here."

Just then, Lyra and Bon Bon emerged from the lunch line and strode over to the table. "Ugh... our teacher let us out so late!" Bon Bon groaned as she sat down.

Lyra put down her lunch tray, and then sat down next to Sky and put her arms around him. "Hey, babe..." she said, and leaned in to kiss him. Sky happily reciprocated.

"Aww..." Bon Bon and Derpy purred.

"Ew, get a room, you two!" Trixie muttered.

Lyra and Sky's lips eventually parted. "Anyway, it's time for that announcement I told you about!" said Lyra.

"I've been wondering about that all day!" said Sky. "What is it?"

"I'm running for Spring Fling Princess!" Lyra declared. She put her arm around Sky again. "It's my first time running, but I have a feeling this is going to be my year. I've got the best boyfriend in the world by my side, and it feels like everything just keeps getting better and better. And now that Sunset's no longer ruling the school with an iron fist, I'll finally have a fair shot at the crown!"

"As the best boyfriend in the world, I'll do everything I can to make sure you win it!" Sky promised, giving Lyra another kiss on the cheek. "I'll be behind you all the way!"

"As your best and oldest friend, so will I!" added Bon Bon. "Do you have a plan?"

"Well, I was hoping that some of you could help me make a banner tonight." Lyra explained. "Then we could hang it up in the main atrium before school starts tomorrow. I think I'm the first girl to enroll, so I'll have a head start! But I'm going to need all of your support."

"You can count me in!" said Sky.

"Me too!" said Bon Bon. Octavia and Vinyl nodded in agreement. They would all work together to help Lyra win the crown.

Meanwhile, Sky's friends were all sitting at their usual lunch table. As members of the rugby team often did whenever there was a game after school, Curly was wearing his rugby uniform. It was blue with a big yellow number 14 on the back, representing Canterlot High's school colors.

"Is it game day?" Sherbert asked.

"Yep!" Curly replied. "We're playing against Maresbury. The game was supposed to be yesterday, but they postponed it because of the storm."

"That makes sense." said Wiz. "I heard a giant tree fell across the rugby field."

"Indeed it did!" said Emerald. "I may be in the minority here, but I love thunderstorms! They're so fun to watch and listen to!"

"I uised tae be terrifee'd o' them." said Sherbert. "Which was verra inconvenient syne I'm fae Scotland!"

"I can imagine." Emerald chuckled. "I don't think I could live up there, with how cold it is all the time."

"Aye. I prefer the wather here." Sherbert agreed.

"Anyway, how's the rugby season going?" Wiz asked Curly. "I don't know much about rugby, but I remember you got a pretty good position this year."

"Yeah, I did. I'm a wing this season, which means I get to run and score a lot." Curly explained. "The position requires a lot of skill, but Coach says I've done a good job so far."

"Yeah, I agree with Coach." said an unfamiliar voice from behind Curly. "Just good. Not great."

Curly and Wiz turned around to see Iron Turk, another rugby player, standing behind them. He had cropped crimson hair and was of similar build to Curly. His uniform had the number 3 on the back.

"Oh look, it's the Turkey!" Curly quipped. "Having fun being used as a battering ram?"

"Don't call me Turkey!" Turk snapped. "And besides, I love being a prop! Coach knows I'm stronger than you, which is why he put me on the front row instead of you!"

"Oh, please!" Curly retorted. "Your reflexes are so slow that even Rainbow Dash's pet tortoise could land a punch on you!"

"How about we talk once you get yourself a better haircut?" Turk shot back. "Maybe you'd be faster without that giant lump of hair weighing you down!"

Curly raised his eyebrows, feigning a realization. "You know, I just realized why Coach made you a prop! If your face got smashed in, nobody would notice a difference because you're already so ugly!"

"Go run off a bridge, you brainless cretin!" Turk barked.

"Go smack your head on a wall, you arrogant dumbbell!" Curly countered.

"Whatever, I've got better things to do than talk to a moron like you." Turk scoffed, and he sauntered off.

Curly's friends were shocked at how quickly the argument had escalated. "Seriously, what the hell got into you two?" Emerald remarked.

"Curly and Turk have been arch-rivals for a while now." Wiz explained. "They may play football, basketball and rugby together, but that doesn't mean they get along."

"D'ye ken hou it stairtit?" Sherbert asked.

"Yes, I do." said Wiz. "During this past football season, Curly and Turk were in the running for the MVP Award. In one of the last regular games of the season, Curly was about to score the winning touchdown when Turk bumped into him and caused him to fumble the ball."

"And then he won MVP!" Curly fumed. "To this day, I'm still convinced that he made me lose that touchdown on purpose, just to make me look bad!"

"Maybe he did." said Wiz. "He is pretty competitive and self-absorbed." He turned back to Sherbert and Emerald. "Then in the first game of the basketball season, Turk was running down the court when he tripped and sprained his ankle, which forced him to sit out about half the season."

"And he blamed me for tripping him!" added Curly. "He tripped over his own feet because he was too clumsy!"

"Exactly. And they've hated each other ever since." Wiz finished.

"Wow... that's just stupid on Turk's part!" said Emerald incredulously. "I've heard of intense sports rivalries before, but this one is just petty!"

"Aye." Sherbert agreed. "If Turk keeps actin that wey, he's juist gaun'ae bring the hale team doun!"

"He already is." said Curly. "Some other guys on the team don't like him either. Really tells you about his personality." Wiz, Emerald and Sherbert nodded in agreement.

The next morning, Sky waited on a bench outside the school with Octavia, Vinyl and Derpy. They had all helped Lyra design a giant banner yesterday afternoon, and now they just had to wait for Lyra and Bon Bon to arrive with it. To pass the time, Octavia showed Sky a video of a recent collaborative piece that she and Lyra had worked on. Lyra's lyre and Octavia's cello went together surprisingly well.

"Wow, I never knew the lyre and the cello complemented each other so nicely!" Sky remarked. "You two wrote an amazing song!"

"Thank you!" said Octavia. "It was mostly Lyra, though. She's a bit better at writing music than I am."

Sky grinned. "Oh, she's amazing! She played one of her best songs for me last Sunday, and we had our first kiss shortly afterward."

"Lyra told us all about it!" said Derpy. "We were all so happy for her when she told us!"

"It sure was a great day." Sky agreed. "I never actually went to any school dances in my old town, so this is going to be my first time."

"I'm sure it'll be a wonderful experience for you." said Octavia. "Especially is Lyra wins the crown at the end of the night."

"What's going to happen then?" Sky asked. "I know she'll get to wear the crown, but does she get anything else?"

"It's the same for both the Fall Formal and the Spring Fling." Octavia exclaimed. "The votes are cast by all students on the day of the dance. Then, at the end of the dance, Principal Celestia comes onto the stage and announces the winner. The winning girl joins Celestia on the stage, and if she has a date, he gets to go up too. The golden tiara is then placed on the Princess' head, and she and her date pose for a photo shoot. Their photo is then hung in the main atrium of the school."

Sky could just imagine it as Octavia spoke. The overjoyed expression on Lyra's face as she was declared Princess of the Spring Fling, Sky accompanying her onto the stage before the whole school, Principal Celestia placing the crown atop Lyra's lush minty hair, and then a beautiful picture of Lyra and Sky together displayed in the atrium for all to see. If Lyra won, she and Sky would have yet another night to add to their list of amazing nights spent together.

"The night of the dance is May 10." Octavia went on. "If all goes well, it'll be a joyous night for us all. Vinyl will provide the music, of course." Vinyl nodded to confirm that.

"You play the turntables, right?" Sky asked.

"That's right, my dude!" Vinyl replied with a smile. "I'm a new wave! Only 16 and already getting pro gigs!"

Sky was shocked to hear Vinyl speak. He'd assumed she was mute or something, because he'd only ever seen her nod or shrug in response to questions. "You... you can talk?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course I can!" Vinyl laughed. "But I like to let my music do the talking!"

"I can understand that!" Sky chuckled.

Just then, Lyra and Bon Bon appeared in the distance, carrying a huge banner together. Sky smiled and waved to them, and Lyra enthusiastically waved back. "They're here!" Sky said to the other girls.

"That's a relief." said Octavia. "We were waiting on them for some time."

Lyra and Bon Bon soon arrived at the bench. The banner was very large, and they were each carrying one end. "We have arrived!" Bon Bon announced as Lyra greeted Sky with a warm hug and a kiss.

"Is the poster in good condition?" Octavia asked.

"Not a single wrinkle in it!" Lyra replied. "Let's go in and hang it up!"

"I can't wait for everyone to see it!" Sky said as the group headed into the school with the banner.

When they were inside, Sky looked around the atrium. "Where do you want to hang it?" he asked Lyra. "There are a lot of good spots in here."

Lyra looked around and thought for a while. She finally pointed to the wall above the corridor the right. "How about there?" she suggested. "That's a nice big space, and if we hang it there, everyone will see it as they go down that corridor!"

"That's a great idea!" Sky agreed, interlocking his hand with Lyra's.

"The question is how do we get the banner up there?" Octavia asked. "We don't have any ladders."

"I'm sure Mr. Blackpool wouldn't mind if we borrowed a couple of his." said Bon Bon.

"Is Mr. Blackpool here though?" Sky asked. "I mean, we still have several minutes before first period starts."

"He's usually here pretty early." said Vinyl. "I'll run down to his office and ask him!" She turned and began jogging down the corridor.

Within a couple of minutes, Vinyl returned with Mr. Blackpool. The groundskeeper was carrying a metal ladder and a box of thumbtacks, while Vinyl was carrying two more ladders. "So I hear you're hanging up a banner." Mr Blackpool remarked.

"Yes, we are!" said Lyra. "I'm running for Princess of the Spring Fling!"

Mr. Blackpool smiled. "Always glad to be of assistance. I'd better watch over you while you use the ladders, though. Wouldn't want any of you to hurt yourselves."

"Thanks!" Lyra said as Mr. Blackpool handed her the box of thumbtacks.

"No problem." Mr. Blackpool replied.

Under the careful watch of Mr. Blackpool, Lyra, Bon Bon and Sky propped up the three ladders. They put one on each side of the corridor and the third one in the middle, making sure they were all evenly spaced. Sky then took the banner and two thumbtacks, and climbed to the top of the ladder on the left. Bon Bon took two thumbtacks and climbed up the ladder in the middle, and Lyra took two thumbtacks and climbed up the ladder on the right. The remaining three girls remained down below with Mr. Blackpool to watch their friends. It was lucky for everyone that Derpy stayed well clear of the ladders.

Sky carefully positioned the left end of the banner against the wall and pushed a thumbtack into each corner. "You ready?" he called to Bon Bon.

Bon Bon gave Sky a thumbs-up, and Sky unfurled the banner toward her. When the banner reached Bon Bon, she pushed one thumbtack into the top edge and one into the bottom edge.

"Ready!" Lyra called. Bon Bon unfurled the rest of the banner to her, and Lyra pushed her two thumbtacks into the remaining corners.

"Well, I guess that's done!" said Sky.

"Yep!" Bon Bon agreed. "That was easier than I thought it'd be!"

"It sure was!" said Lyra as she climbed down. "Thanks for helping me with this! You all did a great job!"

Sky winked at Lyra. "I'll always help my girlfriend whenever I can."

At that moment, Emerald and Tree Hugger walked into the atrium. "Wow, that banner looks amazing!" Emerald exclaimed.

"It gives off such a positive vibe." Tree Hugger agreed. "Who made it?"

"We all worked on it together!" Sky replied. "Speaking of which, I don't think we've met before. I'm Sky Scraper, one of Emerald's friends."

Tree Hugger smiled. "Radical to meet you, Sky. I'm Tree Hugger. Blessings."

"I'm running for Spring Fling Princess!" Lyra explained. "If you like the banner, then be sure to vote for me in a few weeks' time!"

"You definitely have my vote!" said Emerald.

"And mine." said Tree Hugger. "Anyway, Emerald and I have to go. Every morning, we come in here early and water the plants in the courtyard. Peace out."

Emerald waved goodbye to Sky and the girls, and he and Tree Hugger headed off to the courtyard together.

"Well, she seems like an interesting character." Sky remarked. Emerald's crush was a bit different than he'd imagined.

"She is!" said Derpy. "She seems weird when you first meet her, but she's actually really chill!"

Nevertheless, Sky was glad to see that Emerald and Tree Hugger were gradually getting closer. He and the girls helped Mr. Blackpool put away the ladders, and then he headed off to his English class.

Sherbert normally had Chemistry as his first class of the day, but today his teacher, Mr. Kelp, was absent and there was no substitute, which meant that Sherbert had a free period. Since he didn't have much work to do for other classes, he decided to go to the library and read for a while. When he entered the library, he found Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Rarity and Fluttershy sitting together at one of the tables. All four girls were in the same Chemistry class as him, so they were free as well.

"Hi, lassies!" Sherbert greeted them as he sat down at their table. He had a very important question to ask Twilight. "D'ye mynd if I sit wi' ye?"

"Of course you can, Sherbie!" Twilight replied with a smile. "I'm so glad you came by!"

"It's so nice having a free period right now." said Sunset. "We've just been studying for other classes together."

"Indeed." said Rarity. "I have a History test next period, and now I have much more time to review for it."

"I'll probably do a quick run to the pet store in a little while." said Fluttershy.

Sherbert smiled and winked. "Weel, the main raison I cam here is acause I hae a speicial quaisten juist fer ye, Twilight."

Twilight's eyes lit up and she stood up from her seat. "Yes?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

Sherbert got down on one knee. "Weel ye be me date tae the Spring Fling?"

It took a few seconds for Twilight to fully process what Sherbert had just asked her, but when she did, she beamed with happiness. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" she burst out. "I'd love to!" She gave Sherbert a warm, tight hug.

Sunset, Rarity and Fluttershy were overjoyed for their newest friend. "Congratulations, Twilight!" said Sunset. "I had a feeling he was going to ask soon!"

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you, Twilight!"

"I think you'll love your first Canterlot High School dance, darling." said Rarity. "The Spring Fling is the most wonderful night of the year, even grander than the Fall Formal."

Sherbert nodded to Twilight. "It shair is! I cannae wait fer this year's dance!"

Twilight put her hand on Sherbert's shoulder. "Neither can I, Sherbie. Neither can I."

Flash Sentry stood at the other end of the library with a dejected expression on his face, having seen the whole thing. "Damn it..." the blue-haired guitarist muttered. He turned and walked out of the library.

Later that day, Sky, Emerald and Wiz were sitting at their usual lunch table when Sherbert arrived with a big smile on his face. "It looks like you're having a good day!" Wiz remarked. "What's up?"

"This morning I askt Twilight tae the dance, an' she said aye!" Sherbert replied.

Sherbert's friends clapped and cheered for him. "Congratulations, Sherb!" said Sky. "Now two of us have dates to the dance!"

"And this time, you didn't lose her to Flash Sentry!" added Emerald.

"Och aye!" Sherbert agreed. "Fate's gien me a second chance, an' I'm gaun'ae mak it coont!"

"I think you'll make Twilight very happy." said Wiz. "She's in my Calculus class. She's pretty quiet most of the time, but whenever she does talk, it's usually about you."

"That's great tae hear!" said Sherbert. "I feel like she needit a lad she coud coont on, whit wi' her juist transferrin tae a new schuil last month. I'm daein the best I can tae be that lad."

Wiz nodded. "I can tell you she definitely appreciates your efforts."

Meanwhile, Curly was standing near the door of the cafeteria, talking with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, the two co-captains of the girls' rugby team, about Monday's games. It'd been a very good day for all three of them, as for the first time that season, both the boys' team and the girl's team had won.

"You were so awesome yesterday!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I still can't believe you scored eight tries in one game!"

Curly chuckled. "Yeah, I really surprised myself with how fast I was yesterday. That was definitely the best game I've ever played! Being a wing is so much fun!"

Applejack smiled. "Ya may not be a captain this year, but Ah think ya definitely should be! Ah mean, ya basically carried the whole team yesterday!"

"My goal is to win the MVP award this season and be a captain next season." Curly replied. "One of our captains is a senior, so we'll need a new guy next year. I really want to be that guy!"

"Ya definitely deserve both!" Applejack agreed. She gave Curly a fist bump, and she and Rainbow Dash headed off to join the rest of the Rainbooms. Curly headed over to his usual table and sat down next to Sherbert.

"Guid tae see ye, Curly!" Sherbert greeted him. "I heard ye beat Maresbury yisterday!"

"We sure did! Total domination, 53 to 7!" Curly replied. "I scored 40 of those points all by myself!"

"Seriously?!" Sky exclaimed. "Holy crap, dude, you're a legend!"

Curly smiled. "Thanks! Now that I think about it, that might be a school record for the most points in a single game."

"You should ask your coach about it." said Wiz. "Because if it is, your name will finally be on the records wall in the gym!"

"Oh yeah!" Curly exclaimed. "I've always wanted to be on that wall!"

"The first record of many, I'm sure!" Sky added.

"Imagine Turk's face when I'm on the wall and his name isn't!" Curly snickered.

"He'll probably have a stroke!" Emerald laughed.

"That'd be priceless!" Curly guffawed. Eventually he calmed himself down and turned to Sherbert. "By the way, I heard you asked Twilight to the dance this morning. Well done!"

"Hech ay! Thankye!" Sherbert replied. "Noo Emerald juist needs tae ask Tree Hugger, an' then everybody's set!"

Emerald blushed lightly. "I really want to ask her, but I keep chickening out." Emerald admitted.

"Ye juist hiv tae gae fer it, laddie!" Sherbert said encouragingly. "I'm shair she likes ye!"

"As a great man once said, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." put in Curly.

"I couldn't have put it better myself." Sky agreed. "Speaking of Tree Hugger, how are you getting along with that Sandalwood guy? I remember you mentioning him a while ago."

Emerald smiled. "Sandalwood and I are friends now. I'm no longer worrying about competing with him. Besides, I think he already has a girlfriend, and it's not Tree Hugger."

"Good!" said Sky. "The last thing you need is someone trying to ruin your relationship before it begins."

"Oh, definitely!" Emerald concurred.

"Speaking of Spring Fling dates, I have something I want to confess." said Curly.

Sherbert raised one eyebrow. "Aye?"

"I never told you guys any of this, but I've really admired Applejack for a while." Curly explained. "She's really hot and I like a girl who's not afraid to work hard. Plus, she's probably the best player on the girls' rugby team, even better than Rainbow Dash."

Sherbert grinned. "I think ye shoud definitely gae fer her! I dated her earlier this year masel, and I can tell ye she's a guid ane!"

"Plus, you both play rugby, so I'd say you have a really good chance." said Sky. "Although she probably won't be expecting you to ask, so don't be overly forward. Play it cool."

"Of course." said Curly. "I've got a really good feeling about this."

After consulting with the rugby coach, Curly found that he did indeed set a new school record with 40 points in one game. By Thursday, his name was on the records wall, and he was very proud of himself. On Friday, his usual third period English class was cancelled due to Miss Cheerilee being absent, so he had a free period. He would have spent his free period playing basketball in the gym, but there were two eighth-grade gym classes in there, so he grabbed a soda from the cafeteria and went to the library instead.

Curly entered the library and immediately spotted Applejack taking to Rainbow Dash at the top of the staircase on the left. Remembering Sherbert's advice and his own, Curly saw his chance. He took a deep breath and began walking over to the stairs.

How badly could this possibly go?, he thought to himself. Applejack's a nice girl and I'm one of the top athletes in the school! I'm surprised I don't have more girls lusting after me!

But just as his encouraging thought finished, Iron Turk came around the corner of the big center bookshelf and began talking to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Then before Curly knew it, Turk had put his hand on Applejack's shoulder, and Applejack had responded by pulling Turk into a hug. Curly didn't hear the conversation, but judging by the smile and blush on Applejack's face, he had a feeling he knew what had just happened.

Curly couldn't believe it. His arch rival had just stolen Applejack right in front of him. Clenching his fists with rage, he growled and kicked over the nearest chair, which hit the floor with a crash. He then shoved the doors open as hard as he could and stormed out of the library. What had started off as such a promising day had quickly come crashing to the ground.

Author's Note

There you have it, my longest chapter so far, my first chapter of 2020 and the first to feature Emerald and Sherbert interacting with their crushes! There's much more of that to come in the next few chapters!

Also, I know next to nothing about rugby, so I had to do some research to make Curly's conversations with his fellow players realistic. His subplot is a bit out of left field, but it'll definitely add an extra layer of drama to this story arc.

This story is canceled

Yeah. I'm canceling this story. It's not that the premise was bad, or that the character is bad, it's just bloated with way too much stupid and useless stuff, and I'm really not happy with the way the story is going (or has gone after the first few chapters).

Blog entry with more information on the matter: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/886357/should-i-reboot-see-how-the-night-sky-glows