Aquamarine Horizons

A few days after Sky’s trip to the mall, he was talking with Emerald Leaf and Afterglow Eventide as they walked out of their English class together. Like Sky, Afterglow had also moved to Canterlot over the summer, while Emerald had moved from the Netherlands the year before.

“I’d say my first year here is off to a good start,” Sky said as he finished telling his new friends about where he came from. “This school is so much better than my old one ever was.”

Afterglow laughed. “I know how you feel. Trust me, if you think your old school was bad, mine was even worse. It was this regional school way out west, full of druggies, dumb jocks, shitty teachers… all kinds of idiots, really. I’m so glad I don’t have to go there anymore.”

“That does indeed sound really shitty,” said Emerald. “At least my school back in the Netherlands wasn’t like that. Last year was a weird time to be a new student, but now I’ve settled into Canterlot really well. This city has everything!”

Sky nodded. “It really does! I spent the end of the summer exploring different parts of the city, seeing what’s changed since I left six years ago. A lot of neighborhoods have been built up, but some places are exactly as I remember them. I especially like going to the mall and the park.”

“Oh, I love the park too!” Emerald agreed. “There are so many nice trees and flowers that grow there. I also found some millipedes in the dirt and took them home with me. I already had three giant millipedes that I bought in the Netherlands, and now I have some smaller ones too! I keep them all in this big terrarium in my room.”

“You have pet millipedes? That’s so cool!” Sky exclaimed. “I’ve always liked millipedes. I used to find them in my backyard when I was little, but my parents wouldn’t let me bring them inside.”

“Neither would my parents,” Emerald chuckled. “But now that I’m older, I’m allowed to have my own pets, as long as they stay in the terrarium.”

“Millipedes are awesome, but I probably couldn’t have them in my house,” said Sky. “The only place I could put a terrarium is my basement, and I’d have to make sure my dog doesn’t try to eat them!”

Emerald laughed. “I’ve never had a dog myself, but I can definitely imagine that.”

Just then, a girl with light green skin and scarlet dreadlocks exited the library. She wore a light pink top and a long yellow dress lined with white flowers. Emerald grinned when he saw her. “Tree Hugger!” he called out.

“Hey, Emerald…” Tree Hugger replied in a slow, relaxed voice. She put her arm around Emerald and ran her hand through his long green hair. “Righteous to see you again, handsome.”

“This is my girlfriend, Tree Hugger,” Emerald explained to Sky and Afterglow. “We started dating this past spring.”

“We like taking long walks through the forest,” Tree Hugger added.

“Nice… I like doing that too,” said Afterglow. “The big forests and fields are really the only thing I miss about my old town. My name’s Afterglow Eventide, by the way.”

“And I’m Sky Scraper,” said Sky. “We’re both friends of Emerald.”

Tree Hugger smiled. “Radical to meet you both.”

“Sorry I can’t talk to you guys more – Tree Hugger and I have to go to Biology now,” said Emerald. “See you later!” He and Tree Hugger held hands as they walked up the stairs.

“I’m kind of jealous that he has a girlfriend, not gonna lie,” Afterglow remarked as he watched them depart.

Sky shrugged. “Well, who knows, maybe you’ll find one this year.”

“That would be nice, but I’m not sure what kind of girl would like me. Most people go out and do stuff a lot, but I never really have.”

“Well, if you lived way out west, there probably wasn’t much to do in your old town anyway. There wasn’t much to do in Valesbridge either. But now that you’re here, I’d say it’s a good time to start.”

“You’re probably right there. Say, do you mind if I tell you about my crush?”

“Of course not. Go ahead.”

“There’s this girl in my History class that I’ve been in love with since the first day of school,” Afterglow explained. “You probably don’t know her, but her name is Octavia Melody. Something about her English accent and dark hair is just so attractive to me. Even when I’m not in that class with her, I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“Seems like the usual thing that happens when you have a crush. I think I have one too, but I’m not sure if I feel comfortable talking about it yet.”

“That’s fine. Good luck with whoever it is.”

Sky smiled. “Thanks! And the same to you. You have the whole school year ahead of you, just remember that.”

Later that day, Sky was heading to his Drawing & Painting class. The art room was located just down the hall from One Trick’s little “apartment”, and as Sky passed by, he saw the groundskeeper pacing back and forth at the end of the corridor.

“Where the hell did those quarters go?” One Trick muttered, furiously scratching his black hair. “I swear they were on my desk last week!”

Sky snickered to himself. Knowing Cloudchaser, she’d probably spent at least half of the quarters already. One Trick was never getting any of those back, and he’d probably never find out where they went.

“Hey, what’s up, Sky?” Thunderlane asked as Sky entered the art room and sat down across from him.

“Not much. You?”

Thunderlane sighed. “Mr. Cranky assigned this freaking huge math packet today, and it’s due tomorrow. I swear, why does this guy have to be such a hardo? He’s old, he should be retired already.”

“Dang, that sucks. I’m glad I don’t have him for Pre-Calc. You’re taking Algebra 2, right? I took that last year.”

“Yeah. Regular Algebra 2 because I’m stupid at math, and Mr. Cranky makes it hell. Who assigns something like that one week into the school year?”

“Mr. Cranky, I guess. Just give it your best effort.”

“Seriously though, screw that old fart. Literally no one likes him.”

Sky chuckled. “My friend Afterglow has him too, and he’s said the exact same thing.”

“Just so you know, your hand drawings should be finished by the end of next week!” Brush announced. “After that, we’ll do a gallery walk, and then we’re moving onto the next project.”

“Shoot, we’d better get our drawings." Sky got up to grab his drawing from the shelves at the back of the room, and Thunderlane followed. Sky also picked up two colored pencils and an eraser.

Sky’s drawing was coming along very nicely, and he was almost done shading the hand. Thunderlane, meanwhile, had finally drawn a hand shape that he was satisfied with. “Finally I can start coloring this thing,” he remarked.

Sky had just finished shading the fingers when he saw Lyra get up to sharpen her pencil. He quietly admired her as she walked to the sharpener, and Thunderlane took notice. “Ooh, eyeballing Lyra!” Thunderlane laughed. “I see you!”

Sky angrily shushed his friend. “What the hell, man?!” he hissed. Fortunately, Lyra didn’t seem to have heard them.

Thunderlane smirked. “Dude, you were totally checking out Lyra there. You got a crush on her or something?”

Sky sighed. “Fine… maybe I do. But you’re not allowed to make fun of me. At least my crush is someone my own age.”

“All right, you got me there. If you like Lyra, I can’t blame you – she’s not bad looking, that’s for sure. I don’t know her, though. I don’t really hang out with any of the band people.”

“She’s in the band? Well, I guess that’s not surprising, since she works at a music store."

“Whoa, how do you know that? Are you eyeballing her outside of school too?”

“No, I saw her at the mall on Saturday. My dad and I went to Synthia’s to buy some speakers. She was the cashier there, and I ended up talking to her for a little bit.”

“Ah, chatting up the cute cashier. Classic! You know, if you’ve already talked to her once, why not go over there and talk to her again?”

“I don’t want to just randomly approach her. That’d be kind of weird. And what would I say to her, anyway?”

Thunderlane shrugged. “I don’t see anything wrong with it. Tell you what, if you’re too scared, I’ll go over there for you.”

“No way! That would be even more weird. Just leave it to me.”

“All right, all right.” Thunderlane pat Sky on the back. “I don’t know what you’re so nervous about, though.”

A week later, Sky and Thunderlane entered the art room and found that the table they normally sat at was missing. “Where the hell did our table go?!” Thunderlane exclaimed.

“One Trick ran into it with his vacuum cleaner yesterday and broke one of the legs,” Brush explained. “You’ll have to find somewhere else to sit for now.”

Thunderlane laughed and shook his head. “One Trick… man, what is with that guy?” He then had an idea. He smiled and pointed to Lyra’s table, which had two empty seats.

“Ooh, yeah! Good idea!” Sky agreed.

Thunderlane walked over to Lyra’s table. “Yo, our table’s gone now, so do you mind if we sit here?” he asked.

“Sure, no problem!” Lyra replied.

“Great! Thanks.” Thunderlane and Sky each took one of the empty seats. Sky blushed as he sat down next to Lyra, who almost immediately recognized him. “Hey, I remember you! Sky Scraper, right?”

Sky Scraper felt his brow starting to sweat, and gave a nervous laugh. “Yep… that’s me! What a… nice surprise to see you again, Lyra!”

Lyra smiled. “Same to you! I didn’t know you were in this class!”

One of Lyra’s friends was confused. She had light yellow skin, curly dark blue and pink hair, and wore a white dress with light blue and yellow lining. “Do you know this guy?”

“Well, not really, but he talked to me at the music store on Saturday." Lyra turned back to Sky. “This is my friend Bon Bon. We’ve been besties since kindergarten!” She and Bon Bon put their arms around each other’s shoulders and smiled.

“I moved here all the way from England in seventh grade myself,” said the third girl at the table. This girl had light gray skin, dark gray hair, and wore a white top with a purple bow tie, vest and skirt. She spoke with a sophisticated English accent. “My name is Octavia Melody. Lyra and I are in the band together. I play the cello.”

Sky recognized her as Afterglow’s crush. He remained silent for a bit, trying to think of what to say next. “I, um… really like your necklace, Lyra,” he finally said, wiping sweat off his forehead.

Lyra grinned. “Aw, thank you! It represents my instrument. I’ve been playing the harp for as long as I can remember. My dad’s an accomplished harpist, and he started teaching me as soon as my fingers were long enough.”

“Wow… that’s really cool! The harp has always been one of my favorite instruments. I’ve never been able to play any instrument myself, though.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. It takes a lot of practice, but you’re never too old to learn. What kind of hobbies do you have?”

“Oh… not a whole lot, really. Mostly just drawing or creative writing… when I have the time and the motivation.”

Thunderlane put his hand on Sky’s shoulder. “Come on, dude, don’t make yourself sound boring like that!” He turned to the girls. “Sky may not be as athletic as me, but he’s one of the smartest guys I know. He’s a more reliable navigator than a GPS!”

Sky chuckled. “You’re not wrong there. I’ve always liked looking at maps, especially road atlases. It’s just cool seeing towns and cities drawn out on paper.”

“Indeed, maps are always fascinating,” Octavia agreed. “I have a map of Britain on my bedroom wall.”

“So you know the map of Canterlot like the back of your hand?” Lyra giggled.

Sky thought for a moment. “Mostly, yeah. At least all the highways, main roads, and everything around my neighborhood. It’s a big city, though.”

Octavia nodded in agreement. “I always did wonder how Canterlot got by with only two high schools.”

“Well, speaking of the other high school in Canterlot, Lyra and I both competed in the Friendship Games last year!” said Bon Bon.

“We even got medals!” added Lyra. She and Bon Bon each pulled a gold medal out of their backpack. “We didn’t make it to the second round, but we still got these for participating.”

“Ooh, nice!” said Sky. “My cousin competed in the Friendship Games too. She goes to Crystal Prep.”

“Really?” Lyra asked. “Who is she?”

“Her name’s Sugarcoat. She and I have always been really close. Do you know her?”

“Oh, I remember her,” said Bon Bon. “We never got along well with her, to be honest. She was always so blunt about everything. Like, she had no tact at all.”

Sky grimaced. “Well, that’s not the Sugarcoat I know. She does pride herself on telling it like it is, but she’s always been kind and supportive to me no matter what. She might seem grumpy on the outside, but she’s really nice once you get to know her.”

“Oh, of course,” said Lyra. “We got to know all of the Shadowbolts after the Games. It’s nice not being rivals with them anymore.”

“Yeah, we’re all on much better terms with Crystal Prep now,” Bon Bon agreed. “Sorry I was rude about your cousin.”

“Ah, that’s all right. I’m also glad CHS and CPA aren’t rivals anymore – otherwise things could get awkward with me and Sugar!”

Just then, Brush walked over. “Are you guys going to do anything today?” he asked. “The hand drawing’s due at the end of the week!”

“Oh shoot, I forgot!” Lyra laughed. She went to Brush’s desk to pick up her drawing, which was nearly complete. Her tablemates followed and did the same.

“You’ve barely done any shading!” Brush commented when he saw Thunderlane’s drawing. “You’d better hurry up!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know!” Thunderlane retorted. “But when the pressure’s on, I can work fast!”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Brush laughed. In contrast, he was very impressed by Sky’s artistic skills. “Wow, Sky, that looks great!” he remarked.

“Thank you!” Sky exclaimed. He wasn’t expecting to hear that.

The remainder of the period was quieter, as everyone wanted to finish their projects. Nonetheless, it felt like a dream for Sky to be sitting next to a girl as pretty and sweet as Lyra. When the bell rang, Lyra and Octavia headed to the auditorium for band practice, and Bon Bon went to the library, leaving Sky and Thunderlane to walk downstairs together.

“Dude, it's so obvious that you like her!” Thunderlane laughed. “You were blushing the whole time!”

Sky’s cheeks immediately went red. “No, I wasn’t! Besides, I already told you you’re not allowed to tease me about this.”

“I’m not teasing you. I’m just stating facts, that’s all.”

Sky gave Thunderlane a shove. “Ah, shut up!”