Author's Note
It's been a while, but I'm back. 
This will just be a collection of fun summertime stories about Sky and Lyra. This first one was directly inspired by my vacation to Montreal in 2019.
Sky Up North
It was a calm Friday evening, though since it was late June, it was not yet dark outside. A navy blue hatchback was driving south along Interstate 99, having been on the road since the crack of dawn. In the back seat, Sky Scraper looked out the window, admiring the highway scenery as it flashed by. Next to him, his cousin Sugarcoat was sound asleep - it had been a long car ride.
They passed a mileage sign showing that Canterlot was only five miles away. "Looks like we're almost home!" said Sky's mother, Evening Shade. "I hope you two enjoyed our vacation this week!"
"You bet I did!" Sky replied. "I think this was the best vacation I've ever taken. Even so, I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. And seeing Lyra again, of course!"
Evening smiled. "I'm sure you are!"
At that moment, Sugarcoat awoke. "How close to Canterlot are we now?" she asked. "I fell asleep because the traffic was moving so slowly around Manhattan."
"We're just a few miles north of Canterlot Bay," replied Sky's father, Air Raider, who was at the wheel. "Assuming we don't hit any more traffic, we should be home soon."
"That's good," said Sugarcoat. "I could use some room to stretch right now." She stretched her arms and legs out as far as the confines of the back seat would allow, then pulled her phone out of her handbag.
As Air continued driving down the highway, Sky watched the exit numbers on the signs tick down. Within a few more miles, the shape of the Canterlot Bay Bridge loomed ahead. Sky had always loved traveling over this bridge. The roadway began to ascend, and the hatchback left the river's north bank and began crossing over the water. Painted cobalt blue, the large cable-stayed bridge provided an incredible view of the Canterlot skyline from the north.
Beyond the center point of the bridge, the roadway began its gradual descent into northeastern Canterlot. Just past the bridge's southern support column, Air's hatchback passed under the one-mile advance sign for exit 87, the Canterlot Bay rotary. At the point where the road met the river's south bank, a sign reading "Welcome to Canterlot" stood overhead. "Well, we're back in Canterlot now!" said Sky.
"I can read the sign," replied Sugarcoat.
"Touche," Sky chuckled.
When the rotary ramp appeared, Air exited the highway and turned onto Atlantic Boulevard. They passed by Riverview Landing, where Sky and Sugarcoat had gotten lunch four weeks earlier. About a mile further west, Air made a left turn onto Lilac Street. After driving down the road for a few blocks, Air pulled up in front of Sugarcoat's house and stopped. "Welcome home, Sugar!" he said. "We're trading you out for Duke now."
"Well, six days ago, you exchanged him for me," replied Sugarcoat, "so I don't mind." Her parents had taken care of Duke during the week, just as they had when Sky had gone to the Sapphire River Valley in April.
Sugarcoat got out of the car and stretched. She unlocked the silver gate in front of her large lavender house, and Sky and his parents followed her to the door. Sugarcoat rang the bell, and her parents answered the door almost immediately. "Hello!" said Sugarcoat's mother, Marine Gale, who was also Air's younger sister. "How was your vacation?"
"It was great!" said Air. "The kids really enjoyed themselves."
Sugarcoat gave her mother a hug, but was then immediately distracted by Duke running up to greet her. "Hi, Duke!" she giggled. She reached down to gently squish Duke's face and scratch behind his ears, while Duke licked her arms. "I can see you've missed me, but I'm sure you've missed Sky even more!"
Duke then noticed Sky and ran over to him. "Hey, buddy!" Sky exclaimed. He bent down to give his dog a hug, and was soon sitting on the grass and petting him.
"How was Duke while we were gone?" Air asked.
"He was very good," said Sugarcoat's father, Silver Icing. "Marine and I took him for walks along the river every day this week. We made sure to give him plenty of attention!"
Air and Evening were soon busy talking with Silver and Marine, while Sky and Sugarcoat played with Duke in the front yard. Eventually, Air decided that it was time to bring Duke home. Sugarcoat went to join her parents inside, while Duke followed Sky back to the car.
"Enjoy driving home with Duke!" said Sugarcoat.
"I'm sure Sky will!" replied Air. Once passengers and dog had all gotten in, Air started his car again and set off for home.
Duke laid on the floor of the back seat, with Sky keeping him company. Duke had never been particularly fond of car rides, likely because so many of them ended at the vet's office, but this time he wagged his tail as Sky pet him.
After passing through a few more residential streets, Air made a right turn onto Malachite Avenue, and it wasn't long before they were home. Air reversed into the driveway and parked his hatchback next to Evening's dark gray sedan. He unlocked the car doors, allowing everyone to get out and retrieve their suitcases from the trunk. Sky took his out first, and waited at the front door for his parents to bring the house keys.
"Well, aren't you in a hurry to get back in the house! You and Sky both!" Evening chuckled as Duke ran ahead. Duke hurried up the front steps and stood next to Sky.
Air set down his suitcase on the front steps, then found his keys and unlocked the front door. Duke immediately trotted into the house, making a beeline for his bed. Sky went upstairs and left his suitcase on the floor of his room; he could unpack it later. For now, he had a special someone to call. He washed his hands in the upstairs bathroom, then went into his room and sat down in the armchair at the end of his bed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Lyra.
Within a few seconds, Lyra picked up. "Hey, Sky!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, babe!" Sky replied with a smile. "I just got back from my trip!"
"Yay!" Lyra exclaimed. "How was it?"
"It was amazing! I got to see so many cool places and do so many fun things! I can't wait to show you some of the pictures I took!"
"Ooh, I'd love to see those! I'm glad you had such a great time! Do you think we could hang out this weekend? I've missed you so much!"
"Abso-heckin-lutely! You wanna come over to my house tomorrow? We can sit in my backyard and I can tell you about all the stuff I did this week!"
"That would be lovely! I can't wait!"
"Me neither, cutie pie. Me neither!" Sky couldn't help but blush and grin as he spoke. Though he had enjoyed his week in Montreal, it felt so good to be back home and in the same city as Lyra again. "So what'd you get up to while I was gone?"
"Oh, not too much. I started working at the music store on Aquamarine Avenue again, but that's about it."
"Oh, nice! How often will you be there?"
"Just about three days a week, like I was last summer. The rest of the time, I'll be free to hang out with you!"
"Yay! I haven't even applied for any jobs, so I'm around whenever you want me."
"Perfect!" Lyra giggled. "Anyway, dinner's ready at my house, so I have to go now. See you tomorrow, my lovely!"
"You too, my angel." Sky hung up and slid his phone back into his pocket. He sat and thought happily about Lyra for a while, then got up and went to the spare bedroom to check on Bertram, his pet millipede. While Sky and his parents were away, Bertram had been completely alone in his terrarium. Since Sky always kept the terrarium covered and damp, with plenty of leaves for the millipede to munch on, he figured Bertram would be fine, but just wanted to make sure.
Sky walked over to the terrarium and took a look around. Sure enough, Bertram was curled up inside his little log house. He was usually asleep during daylight hours, but he looked perfectly healthy. "Good to see you're comfortable!" Sky said quietly. "I'll come back later tonight when you're awake." He went back to his armchair and returned to looking at the vacation pictures on his phone. He couldn't wait to share them with his favorite girl in the world, Lyra.
At around 14:00 the next day, a light green sedan drove down Malachite Avenue and pulled up in front of Sky's house. "All right, honey, here we are!" said Lyra's mother, Spearmint Tea.
Lyra got out from the passenger seat. "Thanks for driving me here, Mom!" she said with a smile.
"You're welcome, dear!" Spearmint replied. "Text me when you're ready to come home!" She made a U-turn and began driving back to her own house.
Lyra could barely contain her excitement to see Sky again. She skipped up to the front door and rang the bell, then pulled out her phone to text her boyfriend. "I'm here! 😘" she typed.
Sky heard the doorbell and the buzzing of his phone almost simultaneously. He bolted up from the couch and hurried to the front door. Duke got up from his bed and followed close behind.
"Lyra!" Sky exclaimed when he opened the door. "You're here!"
"Yes, I am!" Lyra giggled. She stepped inside and immediately gave Sky a warm, tight hug. Sky happily reciprocated and gently kissed Lyra's cheek. When Lyra let go, she bent down to greet Duke and give him some petting.
"Hey, let's go out to my backyard!" said Sky. "I can't wait to show you some of the pictures I took!"
"Oh, I'd love to see them!" said Lyra. "But most of all, I'm just so happy you're home."
Sky smiled. "Me too. Because now I get to be with you again!"
"Awww..." Lyra giggled.
Sky and Lyra entered the kitchen, where both Evening and Air were sitting. "Hello!" Lyra said with a smile.
"Hello, Lyra!" said Evening. "It's good to see you again! How have you been doing since school got out?"
"Pretty good, thanks!" replied Lyra. "I'm working at the music store on Aquamarine Avenue now. It's been good so far, though not as much fun as a vacation to Montreal, of course!"
Evening smiled. "That's good to hear."
"Although Sky certainly missed you while we were gone," chuckled Air.
"Oh, I know he did!" Lyra laughed. "I missed him too, but now we're back together again!"
"We were just going to sit in the backyard together and look at some of my pictures from this week," said Sky.
"That's fine by us!" replied Evening. "And by all means, go outside! The weather's really nice today."
"Thanks!" said Lyra. She and Sky held hands as they went out the back door. A pair of deck chairs sat on the back porch. "Those chairs look really comfy!" Lyra remarked.
"They are indeed!" said Sky. "Do you want to take them out to the grass?"
"I'd love to!" Lyra replied. She folded and picked up one chair, while Sky took the other. They walked out to the backyard and set them up near the center of the lawn, then sat down together.
"Ah..." said Sky, "now this is relaxing."
"It sure is..." agreed Lyra. "Duke must love running around here."
"Oh, he does! He loves playing fetch with me and my dad out here... although he doesn't really play fetch, per se. More like keep!"
Lyra laughed. "Does he not give the ball back?"
"Not unless you manage to pry it out from his jaws!" Sky chuckled. "Once he gets the ball, he likes to chew on it for a while, or hide it under his chest while he eats the grass in front of him. But if you try to take it back, his mouth is on it!"
"Awww, he's so silly!" Lyra giggled. "Do you have to reach into his mouth to get it?"
"Thankfully no! We have a thrower stick that we use to chuck the ball across the lawn. It's got a much better throwing range than either me or my dad, and it's an easier and more sanitary way to get the ball back!"
"Oh, that's cool! Sounds like you guys have a lot of fun together!" Lyra stretched and then gently leaned her head against Sky's shoulder. "Now how about seeing some of your vacation pics? I've been dying to see just what you got up to without me!"
Sky laughed and pulled out his phone. "All right, here we go!" He brought up a picture of Sugarcoat sitting on one of the hotel beds, with the ceiling high above. "So this is the hotel room that I shared with Sugarcoat. Just look at how high the ceiling is!"
"Yeah, it's huge!" remarked Lyra. "Do you know exactly how tall it was?"
"Fifteen feet!" replied Sky. "I looked it up after we got there."
"That's crazy! It must have felt like a palace!"
"Oh, it did! Not only that, but we were on the ninth floor, so we got a really nice view! Our window faced one of the big rivers that runs through the city." Sky pulled up a picture that he'd taken from the window of his hotel room, which showed the full breadth of the river beyond.
"That's so nice!" said Lyra. "The only thing better would be a balcony."
"Well, for that I could go up to the roof!" Sky showed Lyra a selfie that he'd taken with Sugarcoat next to the hotel's rooftop pool. "Sugar and I went up here to swim a few times, usually in the evening. This was the first time I've ever used a rooftop pool, and it was amazing! Just chilling in the water, watching the sun set over the hills... ah, I wish you could have been there with me!"
Lyra chuckled. "I wish I could have been there with you too! The hotel I stayed at in Manhattan had a rooftop pool, but it was closed for maintenance while I was there."
"Oh, boo to that!" groaned Sky. "Bad hotel! They should have done the maintenance before you got there. If it were up to me, I'd give you unlimited rooftop pool time, my queen." He gently picked up Lyra's hand, which was resting on his leg, and kissed her knuckles one by one.
"Oh, Sky!" Lyra giggled, kicking her legs back and forth. She leaned her head against Sky's shoulder again. "Anyway... besides the hotel, what other pictures do you have?"
"Hmm, let's see..." Sky browsed his photo gallery to find the best ones. "Ah, here we go." He selected a picture he'd taken inside a five-story shopping center. It had violet lights shining from the ceiling, a row of shimmering water fountains in the middle of the atrium, and elevators and escalators to all the different floors.
"Ooh, that place is so pretty!" Lyra exclaimed.
"Isn't it? It's called the Complexe Amethyste, or Amethyst Complex in English. I stopped here a bunch of times while traveling through the city. Montreal has a network of underground tunnels that connect to shopping centers like this one, as well as the city's subway system. It's such a neat way to get around!"
"I can imagine! The fact that they basically have a whole underground city is so cool! Did you do any shopping at the Amethyst Complex, or did you just pass through it on your way to other places?"
"I didn't do any shopping there, but Sugar and I did ride up and down the different escalators a bunch of times, which was fun. The escalators go between all the different levels, so they're all different lengths and you get a different view from each one. I took this picture on level three."
Lyra smiled and nodded. "I think escalators in general are fun. Just for the views and the vibes."
"I agree!" said Sky. "Funnily enough, I was actually scared of going down escalators when I was little, even though I loved going up them. But I got over that fear pretty quickly."
"Well, that's understandable when you're little. It's quite a height! I wouldn't sweat that."
"Oh, I don't. I just think it's kind of funny in hindsight. Speaking of heights..." Sky scrolled to a panoramic picture of the Montreal skyline. "I took this from the top-floor observatory at the Tour du Jacinthe, or the Hyacinth Tower."
"Ooh, so cool! I love panoramic photos. That's the tallest building in the city, isn't it?"
"Yep! It's 53 stories tall. Definitely not as tall as the Crystaller Building in Manhattan, but still really high up. Actually, the Crystaller Building wouldn't even be legal in Montreal! The city has a law that says no building can be taller than Mount Royale itself. That's the mountain the city is named after."
"Fascinating!" Lyra remarked. "Local laws can be funny like that."
"They sure can be! You know, sometimes I think it would be funny to look up the most ridiculous law in Canterlot and then break it on purpose."
"Oh, that would be fun! But somehow I have a feeling someone's already done that."
Sky chuckled. "Knowing our city, you're probably right. And given that the police didn't bother coming to CHS after the Friendship Games, I doubt they would even care."
"That's such a good point! I mean, they didn't even show up after Sunset blew off the front of the school last fall."
"So I've heard! What are they even doing, really?" Sky lowered his voice to a whisper. "You know, between you and me, I think they're just phoning it in for the paycheck."
"They probably are!" Lyra laughed. "We're just flaming the cops now, aren't we?"
"Well, is it unwarranted?" Sky asked with a smirk.
"No!" chuckled Lyra. "Not really."
Sky scrolled to the next photo in his gallery, which was another selfie. "I texted you this one a few days ago, but here it is again. Just me and Sugar on the observation deck with Mount Royale in the background."
"You should really post these on SnapGab!" suggested Lyra. "I was the one who convinced you to join, after all."
"I'll do that later today; I was waiting until after I came home. And yes... yes, you were, my princess." Sky gave Lyra another kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, Sky, you charmer!" giggled Lyra. "Any more pictures to show me?"
"Well, Sugar has a bunch more pictures of me in the city, so I might ask her to send me some of them. Most of the ones I took are just various buildings that I saw. Montreal has a ton of different architectural styles, so I really wanted to capture them all!"
"Of course you would! Maybe you can use them as inspiration for your drawings."
"That's just what I had in mind! Here's one of my favorites." Sky showed Lyra a picture of a shiny glass skyscraper situated across the street from a Gothic Revival apartment building. "It was so fascinating to me seeing such wildly different buildings right next to one another."
"That looks so weird yet so cool at the same time!" agreed Lyra. "It would be such a fun place to live."
"I know, wouldn't it? Walking through the city was really fun, both underground and above ground."
"It sure sounds like it! I'm honestly jealous of all the things you got to see."
"I totally understand that! It was a really great week." Sky paused. "But it's even better to be back in my home city with you. This is gonna be such an amazing summer."
"Absolutely," Lyra said with a smile. "And maybe one day, we'll get to have our own vacation together."
"That would be lovely, Lyra. Someday..."
