See How the Night Sky Glows

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.